


far away for far too long

by alwaysinmy



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: A lot - Freeform, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Bottom Louis, Childhood Friends, Class President, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Football Player Louis, Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), Hardcore, Homophobic Language, Jealousy, Leigh-Anne and Niall end up together, Leigh-Anne is a great friend, Louis hates nick, Louis is a dick, Mild Smut, Multi, POV Alternating, Queer Bating, RBB, READ AUTHORS NOTE, Student Government Association (SGA), Top Harry, Ziam is established and minor, harry sleeps around, jerrie, poorly written smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-03-11 06:22:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 46,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13518366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alwaysinmy/pseuds/alwaysinmy
Summary: “What are you on?” Harry asks starting to chuckle.“What?”“You must be on crack to think that I would do this!” Harry says almost laughing now.“Harry, I’m serious,” Louis pleads.“What in the world makes you think I would do this?!” Harry exclaims.“200 pounds.”“200 pounds isn’t gonna make m-,”“And I’ll tutor you in Calculus!” Louis blurts out.“What?” Harry is very confused.“I said,” he pauses. “I’ll tutor you. I know you’re almost failing. I’ll help you, if you help me,” Louis says seriously. Harry stops laughing.“What would being your fake boyfriend require?” Harry asks suddenly interested.or the one where Louis needs to prove to the Gay-Straight Alliance Club that he isn’t the homophobic guy they think he is and the only way to do that is to get his ex-best mate, Harry Styles, to be his fake boyfriend.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first fic! My tumblr is onmyownjh, follow me and I'll follow back :) I just wanted to let you guys know that I am not from the UK and I sadly did not have a Brit-Picker for this fic, sorry for inaccuracies. I tried to make the school system similar to that of one in England, but I sort of mixed the American and English systems (sorry). I am not really knowledgeable about the UK school systems, but I just wrote what seemed to be correct based on descriptions by friends and family from England. To help with any confusion,
> 
> Gay Straight Alliance (GSA): A club where there are discussions about LGBTQ+ rights and other issues regarding the community. 
> 
> Student Government Association (SGA): A school based organization where there is usually a President, Vice President who deal with minor school issues involving students and assist the Principal/Headmaster of a school. *I'm not sure what the UK equivalent is called.
> 
> Thank You!  
> -Kelsey

**4pm December 1st**

Louis knew exactly why he was in the Headteacher's office at 4pm on a Friday, but he chose to act clueless, knowing that it would infuriate Headmaster Jones. He also knows that this isn’t a good move based on the fact that the last time they had spoken was a few months prior when he informed Louis that he would have to repeat year 13. Louis was almost 19 years old and he was stuck in the schools main office, sitting in an aged wooden armchair next to his disappointed Mother. Jay was most definitely not pleased when she had received the call saying that she needed to have a meeting with Mr. Jones regarding her eldest son. As a Mother of 7, dropping whatever she was doing to go to a school meeting for her adult son was never ideal. Louis had been thankful that she had shown up. If she weren’t present, he’d probably punch Jones in the face before he even spoke. Louis hated that man. Louis can’t say that he hates many people, but he despised that man. His Mother did as well but she did very well at hiding it.

 

Louis knows that there were 3 possibilities for why they were called in today:

 

A).That one kid from English ratted him out for replacing the teachers pens with vape pens (hilarious _ ) _

B).He got caught running into the girls locker room (in his defense, Leigh-Anne had accidentally taken his cellphone into the changing room while she was feeding his Sims).

C).His grades were not looking so good.

D). All of the above.

 

It was C. Louis was aware that he had been flunking his Political Science class, but he didn’t care because the class was an elective. He didn't HAVE to take the class, he just chose to so he could get credit. Louis had always been fascinated with law and politics and he wanted to continue on that path through uni. Louis had been failing because he never showed up to the class (which eliminates the whole point of taking the class). 

 

He had better things to do 7th period than listen to Mr. Cowell speak for 90 minutes. He decided to go to the McDonalds across the street with his best mate Zayn. That is until it started pouring and they both had to sprint back to school before they got soaked. Zayn ran to the side entrance to return to his class. Louis decided that Mr. Cowell would have to miss him again. He walked inside through the main entrance and passed by the main office, giving a wave to the secretary through the glass. She glared at him and motioned him to come inside. He sighed in defeat and entered the room with his wet vans and frizzy hair. Mr. Jones was obviously not pleased to see him but he had a smile on his face. Louis thought his smile resembled the one on Scars face when he was about to kill Mufasa. 

 

“Hello, Mr. Tomlinson! How convenient, we intercommed Mr. Cowell asking where you were, but he said you were absent. Here you are! Thank you for joining me," Jones had said with that same smile on his face. 

 

Louis followed him into his private office and sat in the chair that he had sat in for many years. The bell for the end of the school day would be ringing in less than 15 minutes. Louis knew he would be there for a long time when Jones had dialed Jay.

 

“Oh Johanna!”  _ Wow first name basis. “ _ I’m doing quite well, thank you. Actually I was wondering if you could please come for a short meeting with me and your son at about-“. He looked at his grandfather clock in the corner of the room. “4pm?” he inquired looking directly at Louis. Louis could hear his Mother sigh in agreement through the phone. Mr. Jones hung up the phone and frowned at Louis. He shook his head in disappointment. 

 

“Sit here until your mother comes," he warns. “If you move, I will gladly call security”.

Louis didn’t plan on moving. He slumped in the chair as Mr. Jones exited the room. He checked his phone as he waited. He opened his football team group chat:  **coach’s bitches**

 

**coaches bitches (9 unread)**

_ Zayn: no practice today, if u couldnt tell, it’s raining. Coach said to do workouts at home _

Louis was most definitely not doing the workouts.

_ Niall: yayayayyayayyay THAKN GOD! _

_ Josh: AMAZING _

_ Niall: I CAN HAVE A PARTY TONIGHT _

_ Niall: MY MUM IS VISITING PEOPLE IN MULLINGAR AND MY DAD IS SOMEWHERE IS LONDON FOR THE WEEKEND!1!!1!!!! _

_ Niall: I’ll post info on Snapchat _

_ Sandy: Cool I’ll screenshot and put it on my story tooooooo _

_ Zayn: same _

_ Stan: ^ _

Louis was up for a party. It would be a great way to blow off steam for whatever this meeting would be about.

_ Niall: Someone invite Styles. He doesn’t have snapchat _

_ Louis: no _

Louis replies as his Mother walks in with an annoyed look on her face. She sits in the chair next to him and she doesn’t speak. Mr. Jones walks in and shakes Johanna’s hand and goes behind his desk to sit. 

 

“Sorry for the trouble Mrs. Deakin but we must discuss your sons grades," he begins as he types on his computer. He turns the screen to Louis and his Mother and points to the F in Louis’ Poli-Sci class.

 

“As you can see, Louis has great grades in most of his classes, almost a perfect grade in mathematics! But...this grade right here, his political science class, is what is bringing his grade point average down," he says as he circles the F with his finger. Johanna nods and shoots Louis and angry look. Louis sits up straight and looks at the screen.

 

“Political science isn’t important. That grade shouldn’t even matter," Louis says to Mr. Jones.

 

“Well, Louis, if you wanted to continue with law in uni, you need this credit. Another option is to join the student government class, but you need to be elected or interviewed to join”. Well there goes Louis chances. Louis could probably get his friends to vote for him, but the current members of SGA probably wouldn’t want him in their organization.

 

“And Louis, I’m really sorry to say this but until you raise your grade, you can’t play football for us here," Jones says calmly turning the screen back to himself. 

 

Louis shoots up from his chair. 

 

“What do you mean I can’t play?!," he shouts. Johanna stands a pulls her son back to sit down.

 

“You are not eligible for after-school activities with your current grade point average," Mr. Jones says adjusting his glasses.

 

“This is bullsh-," Louis stops when his Mother glares at him. 

 

“I’m sorry Louis but you have to bring your Poli-Sci grade up to play again," Jones says.

 

Louis knows that he isn’t sorry. He frowns and slumps back in his chair as his Mother and Mr. Jones talk more about his grades. Louis tunes them out until Johanna taps on his shoulder signaling that it was time to go. They get up from their seats, Louis using all of his power not to flip Mr. Jones off. They exit the office and walk in the hallway in silence until Louis speaks.

 

“So…Nialls having a party tonight and I would really like to go bec-”

 

“No," Johanna replies.

 

“But Mum, the whole team is requi-”

 

“Hello Mrs.Deakin!” a large figure jogs up beside his Mother.

 

“Harry, darling! What are you doing here? School is finished," she asks as she side hugs Harry.

 

Louis rolls his eyes. When Louis said that he ONLY hates Mr. Jones, he was incorrect. He hates another person too. Harry  _ curly-haired, frog face, long legged, annoyingly smart  _ Styles. They’d known each other since they Louis was 5 and Harry was 3. The Styles had moved from Holmes Chapel to Doncaster and lived next door to Tomlinsons. Louis and Harry immediately hit it off. They hung out everyday and did everything together. That stopped when Louis turned 14 and decided that Harry was too clingy for him. Their friendship didn't exactly end on good terms and they were never friendly to each other since. That didn’t stop their Mum’s from continuing their own friendship. They hung out almost as much as Louis and Harry did when they were 10. Harry’s mother had gone on some reality tv show that Louis never bothered to get the name of so, Jay had been very bored at the house recently. She would check up on Harry every now and again to make sure that he was hydrated and well fed. Harry’s step father was doing charity work in Uganda. He had the whole house to himself and never chose to have a party.  _ Idiot _ . Louis knows that Harry isn’t the party type. He’d rather spend a Friday night alone is his bedroom listening to 80s jams than have fun with people his own age. Well, he did  _ have fun _ with people his own age. Another reason why Louis hated him. EVERYONE wants Harry. Louis can’t blame them, Harry is fit (Louis would never admit it though). Harry was also  _ large _ . Girls and even boys obsessed over him. That meant less attention for Louis. Harry had a different guy or girl over almost every week and they weren’t there to study. Being Harry’s neighbor had many disadvantages but the sounds from Harry’s house had to be the worst. Louis hated every bone in that boys body. Just one look at his face made him want to-

 

“Oh, I just found out that footie practice was cancelled, was bout to walk home actually," the frog face said.

 

“Nonsense! I could drive you home dear!" Johanna says patting Harry on the back.

 

“No mum th-”

 

“Thank you Mrs.Deakin! That would be lovely," Harry says with a genuine smile. 

 

Louis groans a little too loudly. Johanna smacks his arm and turns her attention back to Harry as they exit the school. They walk to the minivan in silence. Louis reaches for the door handle of the passenger side door but is stopped.

 

“Harry sweetie, you can sit in the passenger seat. Louis, you sit in the back," she says and she climbs into the car. Louis turns around to see Harry towering over him looking down and smiling. Louis groans and goes to sit in the back seat slamming the car door. The silence in the car ends when Jay speaks.

 

“So Louis tells me that there’s a party for the footie team tonight, are you going?” Jay asks smiling.

 

“He’s the waterboy, Mum," Louis says before Harry can speak. Louis sees Harry frown in the mirror. He grins.

 

“Oh, he’s still apart of the team. Harry, you should go!” she says looking to Harry.

“I would go, I just don’t have any party clothes. Maybe next time," Harry says, the frown still on his face. Louis hopes his Mum would just drop it but she constantly looks over to a sad looking Harry as she’s driving. Louis knows she’s going to do something about it.

 

“Actually, Harry, Louis and I were planning on going shopping today!”

 

“No we weren-”

 

“Harry! You should come with us. The new mall opened up a few miles from here and I really wanted to go," she nudges Harry’s elbow. Harry starts to smile. Louis hates that.

 

_ Please say no. Please say no. _

 

“Oh really? That would be great! Sure, I’ll come along," Harry says beaming. He looks in the mirror to see a frowning Louis, he winks. Louis groans for the 28th time that day and hides his face as his mother drives to the shopping centre. 

 

…

 

They enter the unfamiliar mall and gasp at the size. 3 floors with the tallest ceiling that Louis had ever seen. 

 

“Well boys, I’ll be doing my own shopping so you two can go have fun together. Stay with each other! Don’t get lost." she starts walking off and Louis just wants to grab her and beg her to take him home. 

 

He experienced enough pain for the day already. He had been kicked off the football team and now he had to shop with the boy he’s hated since he was 14. Louis rubs his eyes and starts walking to the huge Topman. Harry trails far behind but half-jogs to Louis. 

 

“Hey," he says out of breath.  _ He really is THAT unathletic.  _ Louis thinks looking at a sweating Harry. He rolls his eyes.

 

“Fuck you," Louis simply says and walks away. Louis knows he’s just immature but he wasn’t in the best mood.

 

“Excuse me?" Harry comes in front of Louis. Looking offended, almost angry.

 

“You really ruined my day Harry,” he flails his arms. “Actually, it was already awful. You just HAD to make it worse," Louis raises his voice. “I could've gone home in peace but no, you HAD to show up and act like a poor little baby who couldn’t just walk home by himself." Louis says trying to keep his voice down and not embarrass himself. 

 

“Well in my defense, it was pouring outside," Harry says with his dumb smile. Louis was ready to punch him. Louis walks away again and pretends to look through clothes but in reality he was trying to get as far away from Harry as he could. He did stumble on a beautiful lilac colored jumper that he desperately wanted.  _ Fuck.  _ They didn’t have his size. He still grabbed the jumper and walked faster to distance himself from Harry.

 

“You know if you ditch me, your mum wouldn’t be too happy," Harry says when he catches up to Louis for the 5th time. Louis sighs and starts to walk slower. He holds the sweater up and stares at it, twisting it, feeling the fabric.  _ This jumper is the most gorgeous piece of clothing in the whole fucking world.  _ He sighs when he is reminded that the jumper is 3 sizes too large. He puts it back on the rack. He didn’t feel like shopping. He looks up at Harry and takes in a deep breath.

 

“Okay, Harold," he starts knowing he would probably regret it later. “Pick a few outfits for the party tonight and I’ll tell you which one is decent," Louis says in a fake nice voice. Harry nods and starts looking around. Louis goes to sit in a chair by the fitting rooms. Harry comes to the chair with a pile of clothing in his arms and smiles. Louis’ eyes are glued to his phone and he doesn’t look up but he can see Harry’s annoying smile from the corner of his eye.

 

“So, you found a few things?" he asks still staring at his phone. Harry rocks on his heels.

 

“Yep," he says. “I’m gonna go try ‘em on," he continues. Louis sighs and nods. Harry walks into the changing room and comes out only a few minutes later in his new outfit. He had on black ripped jeans with a yellow hawaiian shirt with 3 of the top buttons undone. Louis was playing a game on his phone until he was rudely interrupted. Harry cleared his throat. Louis looks up to see Harry’s outfit.

 

“You know, we could make this a lot faster if you stopped looking at your phone," Harry says angrily. Louis puts his phone face down in his lap and examines the outfit. It was a decent outfit but Louis didn’t feel like being nice today.  _ Harry’s thighs look great.  _

 

“You look stupid," is all he says and Harry turns on his heels with no reaction and steps back into the fitting room. Louis rolls his eyes and goes back to his phone. He continues to take care of his Sims, making sure not to feed the Harry sim he had just created. He was planning to starve the sim to death or at least make him very weak. Louis found enjoyment in that. 

 

As Louis was trying to drown his Harry sim in the pool, real Harry comes out in a brand new outfit. This time, he really did look stupid to Louis. He had on tight leather pants that were probably from the women's Topshop and a sheer white top that exposed his nipples and if it wasn’t already revealing, Harry unbuttoned the first 3 buttons. He had a huge smile on his face. He seemed to really like the outfit. He looked at himself in the mirror and his smile grew. Louis did not like that one bit. Before he could think of a clever thing to say, his mouth takes over. 

 

“You look like a fag," he says, immediately regretting it. Harry’s face falls and he nods and goes back into the fitting room slowly. Louis feels guilty but he wasn’t planning to apologise. He had had a bad day. It was just his anger coming over him. He goes back to his phone and continues playing. 

 

10 minutes pass by and he realises that Harry hadn’t come out with his new outfit.

 

“Harry? Harold," he calls into the fitting room. He stands up and walks in the room of many smaller rooms. He looks underneath each door to see that they are all empty.  _ How did I lose a human? _ Louis exits and looks around the Topman/Topshop searching for Harry. He can’t find him.  _ I am so dead.  _ He thinks as he exits the store. He pulls out his phone to text Harry but remembers that he doesn’t even have his number. He quickly texts Niall.

 

_ Louis: Naill, i need harrys # now _

_ Niall: Naill? ha _

_ Louis: NIALL _

_ Niall: fine ill share his contact with u just wait _

_ Niall: *harrys contact* _

_ Niall: ur welcum ;) _

 

Louis rolls his eyes and presses the message button on Harry’s contact.

 

_ Louis: where r u ????? _

_ Louis: its louis _

_ Louis: reply _

_ Louis: hardy reply _

_ Louis: *harry _

 

Harry doesn’t respond and Louis is about to groan for the 29th time when his mother shows up, arms full of shopping bags. 

 

“Hello, did you boys ge-," she looks passed Louis to see no one else next to him. 

 

“Where’s Harry?” she asks, concerned. Louis really did not plan for this to happen so he just said the first thing that came to his mind.

 

“Um, uh, Harry was feeling a bit sick. Bad chicken actually and he called an Uber home," Louis says, proud of himself for coming up with such a great answer. 

 

“Oh, poor boy," she says with a frown.  _ Whew she bought it.  _

 

“Well do you think he’s going to the party tonight? Because if he’s not going, neither are you," she warns.

 

“Of course!” Louis says immediately not even sure if he will show up or not. Jay nods and begins walking to another store. Louis wipes the sweat off his forehead, hoping Harry actually went home and wasn’t still at the mall. Louis spends the rest of the shopping trip following closely behind his mother. She starts talking about Harry much to Louis’ dismay.

 

“You know, Louis, Harry is a really good boy," she starts as she shuffles through dresses. Louis doesn’t respond. He nods and she smiles.

 

“He’s been a bit lonely lately, you know with his Mum on  _ The Great British Bake Off _ and his dad is Uganda,"  _ Oh that’s what it’s called.  _ “She’s going to be gone for a few months and won’t be back until June because of other promotional things." she says sadly. 

 

Louis knows that his Mum is mainly upset because she would barely get to see her best friend for the next 7 months so, he gives her a supportive side hug. Louis also knows that Anne is an amazing baker and will probably be a finalist hence why she will be away for so long. She would be back regularly to visit but her stays wouldn’t be long. Louis almost started feeling bad for Harry, he had to be in his house alone for so long. On the other hand, it’s great because he could do whatever he wants. That’s why he has “visitors” come over so often.

 

“You should really start hanging out with him some more boo," she says looking into his eyes seriously.

 

“Mum, I see him everyday at practice," he says but then remembers. He’s not on the team anymore. Jay notices his realisation and she leans into him.

 

“Maybe you two could have a sleepover one day, like old times!" the smile on her face returns.

 

“Mum! I’m 19! I don’t need to be having sleepovers," he laughs.

 

“You’re not 19 yet," she smiles and walks away. That was the end of their conversation.

 

…

 

**coaches bitches**

_ Niall: this party is BYOA mainly because i dont have money ha sorry!  _

_ Louis: what is BYOA ??? _

_ Zayn: ^ _

_ Niall: bring yyour own alcohol _

_ Louis: well mate that’s stupid. Its a party _

_ Niall: if ya dont wanna come dont come *fist emoji* _

_ Louis: piss off _

_ Niall: HAHHSHHAH  _

 

Louis groans and grabs a bottle of Grey Goose from the mini bar in his basement. At least he can have as much to drink as he wanted. 

 

A car horn honks from outside.

 

Louis puts on his vans, fixes his fringe in the mirror and walks out the door into Zayn’s car. He notices Liam in the passenger seat so he sits in the back. Liam and Zayn had been dating for a year already. They were very alike but extremely different. Liam hung out with Harry’s group of friends, the artsy, musical, the “we’re different” group. Zayn was apart of Louis’ group, the athletes, mainly made up of footie players. In reality, Zayn was an awful football player. He knew it too. He just joined the team because Louis asked him to. Zayn almost did belong in the “we’re different” group but Louis saved him. Louis had 0 problem with Liam though. He was not like Harry. He dressed cool, he was very buff and knew how to have a fun time. Louis considered Liam a best friend and was sure that Liam felt the same way. Liam is also best friends with Harry, which sucks for Louis because whenever Liam wants to go out, frog face has to come as well.

 

“What’d you bring?” Louis asks Zayn looking around for his required bottle of alcohol. 

 

“We just brought a sixer for ourselves," Liam responds pointing to the pack of beer by his legs.

 

“What about you?” Liam asks. Louis lifts his bottle and Liam laughs, causing Louis to laugh as well.

 

“You’re not drinking the whole thing are ya?” Liam asks between laughs.

 

“Maybe, it has been a rough day," Louis jokes.

 

“Why is that?” Zayn asks as he starts to drive.

 

“It’s a long story, I’ll tell ya later tonight," he says looking down. Liam and Zayn nod.

 

“And also don’t worry about me drinking too much tonight, I’m only planning on doing about 7 shots max, and you know that that’s nothing for me with this one," he says pointing to the bottle.

 

“Okay, sure," Liam says still chuckling a bit.

 

They drive in the dark until they hear the loud music coming from Niall’s large house.

 

**10pm December 1st**

 

Harry doesn’t understand Niall’s BYOA rule at all. It’s pretty stupid to not be provided alcohol at a party. Harry did not have any alcohol because his Mother and Step-Father had both given up drinking. Harry wasn’t planning on drinking even if there was alcohol provided. He needed to drive himself home safely. He goes to his recycling bin and pulls out an empty bottle of Absolut that he had drank with Mike when they had their own mini “party”. He rinses the bottle out and fills it up with water. He’s not going to show up to the party empty handed like a loser. He puts the bottle on the table and dries it off with a paper towel. He goes to look in the mirror by the door. He thinks he looks great. He bought the outfit that Louis said he looked like a “fag” in. He saw how guilty Louis looked after saying it that he had to buy it to make him feel bad at the party. Harry felt like a genius. After fixing his hair for what seemed to be 30 minutes, he grabbed his “vodka” and left his house. He hopped in his step-fathers red Audi r8 convertible, leather seats, diamond stitched. He was in the car of his dreams. His step-father let him borrow it when he had to go somewhere for emergencies only. Harry decided that a high school party was very important. He backs out of the driveway and drives in the night to Niall’s house.

 

…

 

Nialls house is as large and Louis and Harry’s houses but it was a lot more posh. It was minimalistic and white. The house was definitely getting destroyed tonight. Harry never decided to have a party at his house because he respected his parents enough to not go behind their backs and throw a party.

 

He hears loud music from the outside and starts walking to the door. He opens the door and a rush of warm air hits him. He enters the house and looks around for a familiar face. People are dancing all around him. Bodies practically squishing each other. He starts walking straight into what seems to be Niall’s kitchen. There are less people in there. He sees a couple making out on the counter and a girl already passed out on the kitchen table.  _ The party just started _ . He finally sees Zayn, Liam, and Louis at the island, taking shots from their own bottles. Once Louis sees him, he gives him a once over and rolls his eyes. Harry gives him a nasty glare and walks towards Liam.

 

“Hey!” he says patting Liam and Zayn on the back.

 

“Mate I’m so glad you came!” Liam says genuinely happy. Harry loved Liam. His positivity radiated wherever he went. 

 

“Yeah mate. Love the outfit too," Zayn says looking him up and down. Harry looks at Louis straight in the eye and smiles.

 

“Thank you, I bought it today," he says not taking his eyes of Louis. Louis takes another shot and sighs. “Gasolina” starts playing from the living room and Liam starts jumping up and down.

 

“Zayn, Zayn, Zayn," he says tapping his boyfriend's shoulder. “We have to dance!" he says with a wide smile. Zayn smiles in response.

 

“Okay, okay, let’s go," he says. Liam beams and drags Zayn into the living room. It was just Louis and Harry. Harry puts his bottle on the counter next to Louis’.

 

“Hey," Harry simply says.

 

“What do you want Harry?” Louis replies annoyed.

 

“I can’t just say hi? We’re at a party." Harry says, making sure to sound extra annoying. Louis rolls his eyes and sighs. He grabs a shot glass from the counter and places them on the island in front of them.

 

“We  _ are _ at a party," Louis agrees and pours vodka from his bottle into his shot glass. Harry sees what’s going on and grabs his bottle to do the same. 

 

“Ready?” Louis asks. Harry nods. “One, two, three," they both down the shot. Harry makes an exaggerated face to hide that he just took a shot of water. Louis makes almost no face at all. 

 

“Ha! I knew you couldn’t handle it!" Louis says laughing loudly. Harry is mentally cackling in his head. He had a sinister idea.

 

“I can most definitely handle it!” Harry says as he lifts his bottle. He knows exactly what’s about to happen and he’s loving it.

 

“Oh yeah? Well lets see who can do the most!" Louis suggests pointing to the shot glass.

 

“I can guarantee you that I can do more." Harry says confidently. He knows he will not be getting drunk at all. He decided to plays this game with Louis as payback for earlier. 

 

“Ha! Okay," he scoffs pouring himself another shot. Harry does the same. So it begins.

 

…

 

They’re about 11 shots in. Both still standing. (Obviously Harry is still around because he’s taking shots of water). Harry was surprised that Louis lasted that long. Louis’ speech starts getting slurred and Harry is ALMOST satisfied. Louis isn’t completely drunk yet. Or so Harry thinks. 

 

“I-I’m sorry for what I said...at the mall," Louis draws out, his eyes half shut. He grips the island counter tightly to stand up straight.

 

“You’re what?” Harry asks, sounding too sober.

 

“I-I saaaaiiiiddddd-," Louis starts stumbling and Harry grabs his wrists before he falls. Louis is drunk. Harry won. Sorta.

 

“I’m sorry for what I said...to you... at the mall." he repeats looking to Harry’s eyes. His eyes start shutting. Harry starts shaking him.

 

“Louis, Louis! You need to stand up straight," he says trying to keep Louis up.

 

“Oh yeah, yeah I forgot," Louis says. Harry’s confused. Louis grabs back onto the counter and pours himself another shot. Harry stops him before he can.

  
“No, no, no," Harry grabs the bottle. “You had enough!” 

 

“But...I wanna win!” Louis grabs for the bottle but Harry pulls away. Louis falls into his chest. Harry groans and puts the bottle on the counter and straightens Louis up.

 

“Louis, I think we should go home," Harry says worriedly.

“No! I can’t let you win," Louis stomps his foot and turns back to the island. Harry grabs his arm and pulls him out of the kitchen forcefully.

 

“Stop!” Louis shouts but Harry pretends not to hear. Harry drags Louis through the crowd up people until they’re outside the house. Louis had been repeatedly slapping Harry’s hand away the whole time they were walking through the house. Harry hadn’t even noticed.

 

“What are you doing?” Louis asks angrily when Harry forces him into the car.

 

“I’m taking you home," he says as he gets into the driver's seat.

 

“I didn’t want to go home," Louis growls.

 

“Oh well, that sucks for you," Harry replies sounding a bit too harsh.

 

“Wait," Louis says grabbing Harry’s wrist as his arms are on the wheel.

 

“What?” Harry asks looking at Louis’ hand.

 

“We...just did like 12 shots," he says slowly. “It’s not safe”. Harry starts driving, Louis’ hand not moving from his wrist.

 

“ _ You _ took 12 shots," “I took 12 shots of water”.

 

Louis doesn’t react. Harry is shocked by that. He expected Louis to get angry or punch him. Louis continues to stare at his wrist. Harry feels the pad of Louis’ thumb circling over his “I Can’t Change” tattoo. 

 

“When did you get a tattoo?” Louis asks examining it, not letting go even when Harry would turn the wheel. It was slightly uncomfortable, having Louis’ hand wrapped tightly around his wrist but Harry didn’t mind. He knew that Louis got touchy when he was drunk. Harry did too. Thank God they both weren’t drunk.

 

“I, uh got it this summer, after Leeds," Harry says keeping his eyes on the road.

 

Louis continues to hold on to his wrist. He traces the letters with his thumb. Harry hates to say that he enjoys it. He feels like he did when he was 10. He felt an odd closeness with Louis. They did not end on the best terms and Harry hated himself for that. Louis left him and Harry never fought to get him back. He ended up losing him forever. 

 

“Louis," Harry says snapping Louis out of his odd trance. “I don’t think I can take you home like this. You’re way too drunk and I know you’re gonna get in big trouble with your Mum.”

 

Louis is silent. He takes a deep breath and finally lets go of Harry’s wrist.

 

“So where are you gonna drop me off?” Louis asks looking out the window. 

 

“Wha-what? Louis, I’m not gonna just leave you somewhere," he sighs. “I’m gonna take you to my house and you can go home in the morning." Harry says seriously.

 

“I don’t want to go to your house." Louis grunts crossing his arms.

 

“Oh, in that case, which park bench do you wanna sleep on? The one near the lake or the one by the playground?” Harry raises his voice. Louis doesn’t respond. Harry had won. They pull into the driveway of Harry’s house.

 

“Give me your phone," Harry lays his palm out flat.

 

“Why would I do that?” Louis asks confused gripping his phone in his pocket.

 

“You’re Mum’s awake," Harry nods towards Louis’ house. The light was on in the living room. Jay had probably stayed awake to wait for Louis to return. “I’m gonna text her through your phone to tell her you’re alright," “I know that if you do it, you’d sound drunk”. Louis groans and brings his phone out and puts it faced down into Harry’s palm.

 

“The passcode is-," Harry had already logged in before he could finish. “Wha-what-how did you know my passcode?” Louis asks frantically. 

 

“2-4-1-2? That’s been your passcode for years," Harry says opening messages. Louis slumps down embarrassed and looks out the window. Harry scrolls through many messages until he find the contact name “Mummy”.  _ How cute _ .

 

_ Louis: Hey Mum! I’m spending the night at Harry’s. Don’t wait up on me x _

Jay replies instantly.

_ Mummy: Alrighty boobear :) love you lots xxxx _

_ Mummy: Thank you for listening to me. Hope you and Harry have loads of fun! _

_ Mummy: Goodnight love :) _

_ Louis: Goodnight mum x _

 

Harry shuts off the phone and looks at a tired Louis. He gets out of his car and goes around to open the door for Louis. Louis stumbles out. Harry stables him. He puts an around Harry’s shoulder to keep his balance. His head turns and suddenly Harry feels stubble rubbing against his neck. Louis is just standing there nuzzled into Harry’s collarbone, half-asleep. Harry kicks the car door shut and tries to walk with all of Louis’ weight on him. He lets go for a second to fumble with his keys to open the door. Louis is still stuck against Harry’s chest. Harry opens the door and tries to walk but he realises that Louis isn’t walking with him. He’s not moving. He’s asleep.

 

“Louis, Louis, Lou-” he shakes Louis until his eyes slightly open.

 

“Carry me," Louis says softly closing his eyes.

 

“What?” 

 

“Carry me." Louis says through his teeth. Harry doesn’t protest because  _ technically  _ this is his fault. He sighs and lifts Louis bridal style, the easiest way to carry him. Louis hands are tucked into his thighs and he leans against Harry’s chest as they climb the stairs in front of the door. Harry shuts the door softly with his back and slowly climbs. He tries to enter the first guest room but Harry accidentally knocks Louis’ head against the door frame. Louis groans in pain.

 

“Sorry," Harry whispers as they enter the room. Harry is not sorry. Harry places Louis on the bed and covers his fetal position body with the comforter. Louis takes a deep breath and appears to be already asleep.

 

“Thank you, Harry," Louis says softly with his eyes closed. Harry nods his head even though Louis can’t see. He slowly shuts the door and goes to his own bedroom. He grabs a set of PJ’s and goes to the bathroom to take a quick shower. 

 

Once he finishes, he turns off the lights and falls asleep. It was peaceful.

 

**3:32am December 2nd**

 

Harry awakes from his peaceful sleep when he feels the repeated whacking of a pillow on his face.

 

“What the fuck?” he jolts up. Louis stands over him, pillow in hand. “Lou, now’s not the time for a pillow fight, go back to sleep," he says going back under the sheets, covering his head. Louis pulls the sheets off his body. 

 

“What do you want Louis," Harry sits back up.

 

“I can’t sleep," Louis says sitting on the foot of the bed.

 

“So?” Harry’s voice groggy but noticeably angry.

 

“I wanted to sleep here because it’s warmer, could you go to the guest room so I could stay here?" Louis asks nicely.  _ Surprising.  _

 

“Are you insane?” 

 

“No, now please leave," Louis says shaking his head.

 

“This is my bedroom, I’m not leaving," Harry raises his voice and buries his face in his pillow.

 

“Fine!” Louis exclaims. Harry feels the weight of Louis leave his bed. He smiles. Until he feels the weight back on the bed, on the other side of his.

 

“What? Ugh," Harry sits up to see Louis laying down next to him.

 

“Goodnight, Harry," Louis says his back facing him. Harry groans and he knows that Louis’ smiling. They were a body apart but Harry could not stand his presence. Louis couldn’t stand Harry’s presence either but you have to make do with what you have. They both finally fall asleep with about 26in between them, both wishing it could be more.

 

**10am December 2nd**

 

Louis woke up with a massive headache and back pain. He didn’t remember much of what happened the previous night, but he knew exactly where he was. He was in Harry Styles’ bedroom. The room he hadn’t been in for 5 years. It looked about the same other than the fact that all of the posters of the  _ High School Musical  _ cast were taken down and were replaced with vinyl covers of Queen, Michael Jackson, and George Michael. The framed photo of him and Louis was also taken down, but Louis wasn’t surprised nor offended. They had both moved on and it was for the better. 

 

He felt oddly comfortable in Harry’s house. It had most definitely not the first time they had slept in the same bed. They would have sleepovers every Friday until the end of their friendship. But this was the first time that they hadn’t held each other when they slept. They both obviously outgrew that. Louis looks to his side and doesn’t see Harry next to him.  _ He’s probably making breakfast.  _ Louis stretches and gets out of bed. 

 

He walks around the room to examine it more.  _ So many memories in this room.  _ Now the room was for Harry to have sex in with everyone in his grade. Louis tried to get the image out of his head. Harry fucking someone.  _ Gross.  _ Louis walks over to the small desk with Harry’s old Macbook. They had done their homework on that table when they were younger. They would both sit on the same office chair and solve math problems together. Harry was always awful at math but Louis was amazing. He always got 100s for that subject. Louis finds that that hasn’t changed when he sees an Calculus test with a 50% and a frowny face on it. Louis lifts the paper to look at Harry’s multiple miscalculations.  _ What an idiot _ . Louis thinks as he puts the paper down. 

 

One thing that hadn’t changed about the desk was “Larry”. Larry was a rainbow stuffed bear that Harry and Louis both made at Build a Bear Workshop when Louis was 14. They went to the store for Lottie’s birthday party and decided it would be funny to adopt a “child” together. They both paid half of the cost and picked the most expensive bear in the shop. Larry wore a white t-shirt with a photo of Louis and Harry from when they were little, iron transferred on the front. Harry’s mom had ironed the photo on the shirt and Jay had embroidered “H <3 L” on the collar with red thread. Harry and Louis would each get a week with Larry. Harry was the last person to have him after months of exchanging so, he kept it.  _ He kept it.  _ After all these years, he never threw it away. Louis smiles at that. _ It’s kinda cute _ . Just then, Louis hears someone obnoxiously clearing their throat. Louis tooks to the door and sees Harry standing. Louis puts Larry back where he originally was.

 

“I left an extra toothbrush in the bathroom and I made you pancakes downstairs," “You’re welcome," Harry says rudely and walks back down the hall. Louis rolls his eyes and goes to the bathroom inside Harry’s bedroom. Louis’ bedroom didn’t have a bathroom. Louis hated Harry even more for having one. 

 

…

 

Louis walks down the familiar steps and enters the kitchen. Unlike Harry’s bedroom, the kitchen had went through major changes. The brown walls were now painted light grey. EVERYTHING was white marble. It was very minimalistic. Louis didn’t like it. 

The smell of pancakes was overwhelming. Louis sat at the round white table with the stack of pancakes on a white ceramic plate. Everything looked TOO white. The pancakes looked gorgeous though. Louis would give him that. Harry was an amazing chef/baker. He probably takes over from his Mum. 

 

Louis hears footsteps coming down the stairs as he takes a bite from his pancakes. They’re delicious. Harry walks into kitchen with a bottled fruit smoothie in his hand. 

 

“They any good?” Harry asks nodding towards the plate. Louis swallows before he speaks. 

 

“They’re alright," Louis lies as he stabs another piece with his fork. The pancakes tasted like God made them himself. They were better than alright. Harry sits down across from him with his own plate of pancakes, much to Louis’ surprise. Louis notices that Harry isn’t wearing his pajamas but his regular school clothes, skinny jeans and an exposing floral shirt.

 

“Why are you dressed up?” Louis asks with a mouthful of pancake. Louis knows Harry hates that.

 

“We have a team bonding thing today," “Did you not know?” Harry questions. 

 

Louis’ phone was dead so, no. He also wasn’t on the team anymore. Louis also didn’t understand why they were having team bonding when the season was ending in less than 2 weeks. They had entered the playoffs and it has been conflicting with the winter sports.  _ They should cancel football all together.  _ Louis thinks. It’s a dumb idea but Louis doesn’t want to see the team succeed without him. He’s selfish, he knows. The team doesn’t know he’s kicked off yet. Today would be the perfect opportunity to tell them. 

 

“Of course I knew about it!” Louis scoffs. “I don’t know why you’re going though, you’re the waterboy”. 

 

Harry laughs. “I don’t know why  _ you’re _ going though, you’re not even on the team anymore," Harry chuckles as he wipes his mouth.

 

Louis drops his fork and glares at the boy in front of him. Oh did he want to punch him in the face.

 

“How do you know I’m off the team?” Louis asked crossing his arms.

 

“I heard you whining to Mr. Jones from down the hall," “Maybe before you try out for a sport, you should work on your school studies first”.

 

“Funny how you say that because you’re failing calculus!” Louis says amused as Harry’s grin falls.

 

Harry clears his throat.

 

“Um, how did you know that?” 

 

“Saw your test on your desk," “Maybe you should worry about your grades rather than mine”.

 

“Well, I don’t appreciate you going through my stuff. I don’t come to your house and start touching things," Harry says as he takes both of their empty plates to the sink. 

 

Louis shuts up at that.

 

“You can go home and get dressed and I can drive us both to T.G.I Fridays to meet up with the guys," Harry says.

 

The thing was, Louis didn’t really want to go to his house. His mother would bombard him with questions about his “reconciliation” with Harry (even though this was only a one time thing). He would rather not disappoint her so early in the day. 

 

“Um, actually, Harry, I was wondering if I could borrow your clothes instead of going home," “I just don’t feel like talking to me Mum this morning," Louis says sweetly. His fake-niceness was cringy, but he didn’t care. 

 

Harry rolls his eyes and motions for Louis to follow him upstairs. They go upstairs back into Harry’s bedroom. Harry goes to armoire and immediately picks out a white t-shirt and grey sweatpants. He shoves them into Louis chest. Louis knows that they would be too big, but he decided that he had argued enough with Harry for one day. 

 

“Thanks," Louis sighs and walks into Harry’s bathroom. 

 

He looks into the mirror and frowns. The t-shirts neck hole was too large so a lot of his chest was revealed. As for the sweatpants, they fit nicely round the bum but were too long. Louis would just have to make do with what he had. He exits the bathroom to find Harry lying down on his bed texting on his phone. He looks up to Louis and tries holding in a laugh. 

 

“Can we just go now?” Louis asks aggressively rolling his eyes. 

 

Harry nods and gets off his bed and stretches his arms above his head revealing his stomach. Louis’ eyes might get stuck behind his head if Harry kept this up. 

 

…

 

They drive in silence as Louis has his earbuds in. They weren’t playing anything but he didn’t want to start a conversation with Harry. 

 

But of course, Harry just had to speak.

 

“You’re gonna tell ‘em today right? ‘Cause they’re gonna be confused on Monday when they don’t see you at practice.”

 

Louis keeps his earbuds in and looks out the window. “Yeah I’m gonna tell ‘em. Won’t be too bad”.

 

Harry nods and stays silent for another minute. When they approach a red light, he looks over to Louis in the passenger seat.

 

“Louis?” he asks softly. 

 

“What?”

 

“I, um…” Harry rubs his temples. “Coach asked me to take your spot," he blurts out after a struggle with words.

 

Louis whips his head to look at Harry. The light turns green and Harry’s eyes are back on the road. The car speeds down the street.

 

“What the fuck?!” Louis exclaims. “You! He asked you?”. Louis felt betrayed. Coach adored him. He constantly told him how irreplaceable he was. Louis gave a disgusted scoff. 

 

Harry didn’t respond, he kept his eyes straight ahead.

 

“Wait!” Louis exclaims. “But you’re failing calc!”.

 

Harry pauses for a bit before he speaks. Thinking out his response. 

 

“Louis, I’m not failing though. I have a D," “If it goes any lower, I’m off the team just like you”.

 

Louis nods. He understands, but he’s furious. The person he hated the most, got his job. He took his place! Football was everything to Louis. Not really. But it was a huge deal. 

 

“I can’t believe you accepted! I could have gotten my grade up and joined the team again!” Louis felt dumb saying that because the football season would really only last 2 weeks more, at most. He would not be able to raise his grade. He was done with football. Forever.

 

Harry obviously knows this and it’s probably why he doesn’t speak.

 

He pulls in to the T.G.I parking lot and parks close to the restaurant. He hops out of the car and Louis follows. Louis was angry. Very angry. But he would have to deal with it. He would be breaking the awful news to his friends today and the least he could do was be positive. So what, his football career is done forever? It’s not THAT bad. He could do something else after school. Actually, he couldn’t. He was banned from after school activities until he brought his grade up.  _ Fuck.  _

 

They enter the restaurant together and see a large table full of the team members. Their mouths drop when they see Louis and Harry together. Niall especially. Niall knew very well of Louis’ hatred of Harry. He had been complaining to Niall about Harry for years.

 

“Oi, what’re ye looking at?", “Let’s eat!” Louis says getting in the seat between Niall and Ed. Harry sat at the far end of the table next to Zayn.

 

Niall gives Louis a confused look but chooses not to ask any questions. The waitress comes by and everyone gives their order.

 

Louis’ leg had decided to shake vigorously out of nerves and he couldn’t control it. There was only one way to stop it. Louis had to do it. Louis jolts up from his seat catching the eyes of the whole team.

 

“Ok, guys I needa tell you something," Louis says as he runs his hands down his face. The whole team looks at him patiently.

 

“I’m not on the team anymore," he states. He doesn’t let anyone respond and he continues. “I’m failing my stupid poli-sci class so I’m ineligible to play," “I’m so sorry for letting you guys down and I hope we can all still hang out as usual and shit”. He pauses.

 

“But yeah, I know you guys can win the championship without me," “You lot are amazing at what you do and I will definitely miss it, but it is what it is," he finishes and nods his head. It’s silent until Zayn speaks up.

 

“Who’s gonna replace you? Our team is too small as it is," Zayn asks worriedly. 

 

Harry slowly raises his hand. “Me”.

 

That’s when Niall pushes out of his seat and stands up. He walks away. The team watches him leave. He gives everyone a sympathetic look and goes to follow Niall. Louis quickened his pace to catch up to Niall. He barges into the bathroom to see a red faced Niall, tears in his eyes. Out of the 8 years that Louis was friends with Niall, he had seen him cry 3 times.

 

  1. When he fell off his scooter while attempting to jump over a puddle when they were 11.
  2. When his Mum yelled at him for his awful grades when they were 13.
  3. When his dog died when they were 16.



 

This was number 4. Niall and Louis had been best friends since they first joined football when they were 11. Louis was a grade above but Niall was a year older than his class so, they bonded over being the same age on the footie team. Niall was an exceptionally good player and that was why he was brought to varsity in his first year of secondary school. Louis chose not to hang out with people in his own grade, and he chose to hang out with Niall. His #1. Niall had been friends with Louis when he was still best mates with Harry, but they weren’t close. They became close when Louis and Harry had ended their friendship. Louis saw it as “When one door closes, another opens”. And, it was a pretty good door. Louis and Niall trusted each other with their lives. They knew everything about each other. Niall knew that Louis was gay, when everyone else thought that he was bisexual. Louis knew that Niall had severe anxiety, when everyone else thought that he was just joking. They never kept secrets from each other. It’s just how it was. 

 

So, Louis does understand why Niall was upset that he found out that Louis was off the team this way. He probably felt less special. He had learned that his best mate was taken off the team and was being REPLACED. Niall had nothing against Harry. In fact, Niall loved Harry. , but it was just that Louis and Niall were the best middies on the team, always helping each other out, supporting each other. He’s losing that support.

 

“Niall, mate, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” Louis starts putting his arms around Nialls skinny frame. He doesn’t let go as he speaks. He lets Niall sniffle in his shirt. He feels Niall’s arms wrap around his back. Louis breathes a sigh of relief.  _ He isn’t mad.  _

 

“I was going to tell you at the party but you saw, I, uh, was a bit knackered,” Louis chuckles. A small laugh is heard from Niall. They both step out of the hug and look at each other.

 

“I’m sorry this happened, man. I’m just gonna miss you,” Niall says wiping his cheek. “You’re the only one I really can talk to on the team,” he pauses. “And, I honestly don’t think we’re gonna do that well in the championship without ye,” he says laughing. Niall always found a way to make a sad situation not as depressing.

 

“Neil, you guys better win that championship! I will never forgive you if you don’t,” Louis jokes. 

 

“It’s really gonna suck not seeing you at practice everyday,” Nialls frown returns. Louis shoves his arm.

 

“Oi, ye don’t gotta worry ‘bout missing me! I see you everyday anyways. Lunch, English, and I’ll still hang out with you everyday before practice like we always do,” He puts his hand on Niall's shoulder. “Niall, everything's gonna be alright,” he finishes reassuringly. 

 

Just as Niall is about to speak, Harry stumbles in to the bathroom. Running into Louis’ back as he enters.

 

“Oh sorr-”

 

“Oi, Henry, we were ‘avin a moment!” Louis exclaims garnering a laugh from Niall.

 

“Henr-” Harry shakes his head. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he says and walks to the sink to wash his hands.

 

Louis rolls his eyes and Niall playfully hits his arm. 

 

“Let’s go back to the table before they think that we’re doin’ STUFF in here,” Niall says walking to the door.

 

“You wish Horan!” Louis yells and they both exit the bathroom cackling.

 

…

 

After finishing their food, Harry stands up and crouches by Louis’ seat.

 

“Listen if you wanna ride home, we gotta go now ‘cause I have stuff to do,” he says quietly.

 

Louis nods and puts his money on the table. He says goodbye to his ex-teammates and exits the restaurant with Harry. They hop into the car but Louis decides not to put his earbuds in this time.

 

“So…” Harry starts as he drives out of the parking lot.

 

“So?”

 

“What did you and Niall talk about?” “In the bathroom,” Harry asks, eyes on the road.

 

Louis chuckles. “That’s none of your business,” he snarkily replies. What Niall and Louis talked about wasn’t a secret or anything , but he just wanted to make Harry feel left out. 

 

Harry nods. “Ok,”

 

It gets slightly awkward in the car so, Louis talks.

 

“So, what is the stuff you need to do that is so important that we couldn’t stay to pay?” Louis puts air quotes around the “stuff”.

 

Harry smiles. “That’s none of your business,”.

 

Louis sees exactly what Harry is doing. Harry thinks he can out-irritate Louis, but he should know that NO ONE could out-irritate Louis Tomlinson.

 

“Who are you fucking today?” Louis asks bluntly. Harry doesn’t react. His smile does falter though. 

 

“That’s none of your business,” he repeats.

 

Louis groans. “You should really get tested. Being with a different person every week can’t be safe,” he says proudly.

 

“And I think you should really shut the fuck up,” Harry replies. Louis can sense his anger. Louis giggles.

 

“I hope you’re using protection,” 

 

“I’m not talking to you anymore,” Harry announces putting all of his attention back onto the road.

 

They don’t speak for the rest of the ride.

 

…

 

Louis sees the familiar red trees indicating that they were in their neighborhood. Harry stops by the curb of Louis’ house and unlocks the car. Louis looks out the window for a bit. He can feel that Harry was rolling his eyes behind him.

 

“You can get out now,” Harry draws out.

 

“Oh! Yeah,” Louis says unbuckling his seat belt and opening the door. “Wait!” he exclaims before shutting it. 

 

“Your clothes,” he gestures to the Harry’s clothes on his body.

 

“Just give ‘em back to me later, or tomorrow, I don’t care,”

 

Louis nods and starts closing the door. , but he doesn’t shut it yet.

 

“Have fun smashing guy #43!” he laughs and slams the door shut.

 

Louis knows that Harry is probably groaning right now and that gives him the satisfaction that he needs to go on with the day.

 

He walks up to his door and unlocks it to enter an empty house. His parents aren’t home, none of his siblings are home either. Just him. He may invite Niall over later. 

 

He jogs up to his bedroom to change his clothes.  _ Finally _ . Clothes that fit. He rolls Harry’s clothes in a ball and heads to the laundry room. Before he puts them in the washing machine he smells the clothes, then he smells himself.  _ Harry’s cologne.  _

 

Louis may hate Harry , but boy, did he smell amazing. Louis could smell his expensive Tom Ford cologne all day. He tosses the clothing in and starts the washing machine. Louis would probably just give Harry the clothes later that night.

 

…

 

Louis watches a bit of Keeping up with the Kardashians until he gets up to put Harry’s wet clothes in the dryer.

 

Louis stretches and thinks it would be a great time to take a nap. His body agrees. He goes upstairs to his bedroom and flops on his bed and immediately falls asleep.

 

…

 

**5pm December 2nd**

 

Louis’ eyes shoot open. He is being rudely awakened by some inhumane noise.  _ Moaning. Harry moaning.  _

 

“Oh my god,” Louis says to himself. He lifts his tired body up and walks to his bedroom window. Curse the builders for making Louis’ window perfectly align with Harry’s bedroom window.

 

The curtains of Harry’s bedroom are down but Louis sees the silhouette of 2 bodies moving around on Harry’s bed. Louis shudders and quickly grabs his phone.

 

_ Louis: NIALL OMG _

_ Niall: WHAT???? _

_ Louis: HARRY IS SMASHING SOMEONE NEXT DOOR AND ITS SOO LOUD AHSDAJDJS _

_ Niall: oh. Nothing new _

_ Louis: ITS SO LOUD IT WOKE ME FROM ME NAP _

_ Louis: I NEED IT TO STOOOOP _

_ Louis: I SEE THEIR SHADOWS IN THE WINDOW AHSKASHSDY UGUHHGHG _

_ Niall: *crying laughing face emoji* _

_ Louis: It’s NOT FUNNYNSS  _

_ Louis: WHAT SHOULD I DO ??? _

_ Niall: well, u could grab some lotion and uh ye know the rest *winky face emoji* _

_ Louis: YOU ARE NO HELP AT ALLLLL GRRRR _

_ Niall: ooh u really do need ur sleep _

_ Louis: i’m gonna go knock on his door and tell him to stop  _

_ Niall: you wont _

_ Louis: you dont know what im capable of _

_ Niall: actually lewis, i do. U WOULD NOT INTERRUPT HIM HAVING SEX _

_ Louis: actually neil, i would. N thats exactly wat im bouta do :)))) _

_ Niall: this is an awful idea. Im telling ye now. Big mistake _

_ Niall: huuuuge mistake _

_ Louis: :) _

 

Louis jogs downstairs to his laundry room and grabs Harry’s clothes from the dryer. He runs across the house to get on his shoes and jacket.

 

He exits the house with a content smile on his face as he jogs across the yard to Harry’s house. 

 

He approaches the door with a smile so wide, his face may split in half. Louis found real enjoyment in ruining Harry’s life. It was like taking a warm bath or greeting your bed after a long day.

 

Louis rings the doorbell repeatedly. 6 times. He hears nothing. He rings again. He sighs with content when he hears feet coming down the stairs from inside. 

 

Harry opens the door. He’s wearing a t-shirt on backwards and his green boxers. He exits the house to meet Louis on the porch. He looks down furiously at Louis’ smiling face. 

 

“What the fuck are you doing here?!” Harry exclaims. He’s a bit angrier than Louis would have expected. It actually scares him.

 

Louis is taken back a bit. “Um, you told me to give you your clothes back later,” he pauses looking up at Harry. “It’s later,” he says handing his clothes to Harry.

Harry snatches them from his arms.  _ He’s really mad _ . Usually, Louis would be happy with Harry’s anger , but now he was getting angry himself.

 

“No need to be a dick,” Louis shoots Harry a glare.

 

“Leave, Louis,” he growls. Louis steps back and complies. Harry is entering the house when Louis remembers that he always has the last word. 

 

“Oh! Keep it down in there! The whole neighborhood can hear”, Louis says and he follows that by mimicking Harry’s moan. He chuckles to himself as Harry slams the door shut.

 

Louis smiles and skips back into his house back up to his bedroom. There is no more noise , but he does hear a car door slamming and driving away.  _ Success.  _


	2. Chapter 2

**2:05pm December 4th**

 

Louis enters his Poli-Sci for the first time in weeks. He’s late though. Only about 5 minutes but his entrance does garner the attention of the whole class. He notices the stares as he walks to his assigned table. He sits next to Leigh-Anne Pinnock. She is the only reason why Louis even tolerates the class. They had been friends for as long as he’d known Niall. Niall and Leigh-Anne had been a package deal almost when Louis became friends with Niall. They had been friends since Niall moved from Ireland. Louis always thought that Leigh-Anne and Niall would end up together, but it never happened. Niall said that he only liked her platonically but Louis knew that was complete bullshit. 

 

“Ah, welcome back Mr. Tomlinson!” “We are so glad that you’re here!” Mr. Cowell mocks causing the class to giggle. 

 

Leigh-Anne puts a reassuring hand on Louis’ back. Louis sits up straight and turns to face Mr. Cowell.

 

“I am most definitely not glad that I’m here,” Louis announces grinning. The class giggles again and Mr. Cowell rolls his eyes.

 

“Well, Mr. Tomlinson, if you don’t want to be here, you can surely leave. You know where the door is,” Mr. Cowell says. A wave of “oh”’s flood the room. Cowell smiles at that.

 

Louis was prepared to get up and walk out of the classroom, but he remembered: if he fails this class, it would be a loss of credit and he wouldn’t be able to do ANY after school activities. ButMr. Jones did say that he could switch into Student Government. Louis considers it but remembers that you either have to be elected or pass a brutal registration process that includes an attendance check, interview, and recommendations. It just wasn’t possible. Louis is shaken from his thoughts when Jesy Nelson, the girl across from him, speaks. 

 

“I fucking hate this class,” she simply states. Leigh-Anne nods.

 

“Same,” Louis sighs, slumping in his seat. “But there’s nothing we can do,” “We can’t just LC,”

 

Jesy pauses to think for a moment. “Well actually, I was thinking about joining SGA instead,” she finally says.

 

Louis laughs at that. Leigh-Anne and Jesy give him a confused look.

 

“It is a battle to get into SGA,” “The interview is impossible,” Louis says defeated.

 

“I’m obviously not going to get in if I sign up! I’m gonna run for office,” Jesy states proudly.

 

“What?!” Louis and Leigh-Anne both exclaim in unison.

 

“Yeah, I’m planning on running for Treasurer for the second semester because it’s super easy,” she starts. “President and Vice President were also available but there is no way I’m doing those,”. 

 

Leigh-Anne beams at this.

 

“Wait, oh my god, I should run for vice president! It can’t be that hard!” Leigh-Anne says enthusiastically. 

 

Louis frowns.

 

“So, you’re both gonna leave me here in this class, alone,” he says slumping even lower in his chair.

 

“Well…” Leigh-Anne turns to face him. “You could run for president,” she inquires.

 

“President?!” Louis laughs.

 

Louis loves Leigh-Anne but this was probably the stupidest thing she’s ever suggested. Louis for president? Might as well make a hamster president.

 

“Louis, I’m serious! It would be amazing for you to do this! You’ve always wanted to be in charge of something big like this,” she says.

 

Jesy nods her head in agreement.

 

“And, Louis, you would probably win too. You are pretty popular,” Jesy adds.

 

Louis sits up straight at that and suddenly a rush of confidence comes over him. Louis COULD win. He basically had all of the support of the athletes and they were a huge group of people. He could easily win with just them voting. But it did matter who he was running against.

 

“Ok, let’s say, hypothetically, I were to run,” he begins sitting up straight. “Who would I be running against?” 

 

Jesy looks at her phone at what appears to be the list of people who signed up.

 

“Um… Nick Grimshaw,” she finally says looking back up.

 

_ Ugh Nick.  _ The school news anchor. Loved by every teacher. He was apart of Harry’s group of friends. The artsy, dramatic people. He’d most likely get support from THAT group of people. So, if Louis does run, he will have  _ some _ competition. But Louis was very confident in himself. Nick Grimshaw only had the support of the nobodies.  _ Fuck Nick. _

 

“Ye know what?” “I’m gonna run for president,” he announces a bit too loudly.

 

Jesy and Leigh-Anne clap their hands in excitement. 

 

Louis smiles with content. He’s gonna win this thing.

 

…

 

**6pm December 4th**

 

“Ok, so, we need to make posters too,” Leigh-Anne says as she drops the markers into Louis’ lap. 

 

They were at Niall’s house trying to start their campaign. Jesy didn’t need posters because she was the only one running for Treasurer so she didn’t bother coming because she already won. Leigh-Anne was running against a random girl who Louis didn’t bother to remember the name of. Sasha? Sophia? He didn’t know nor care. He was pretty certain that Leigh-Anne would win and so was she, but she insisted on making posters to be improve her chances of winning. 

 

“Also, we need to take professional photos of you so you look like a serious candidate,” “Let’s do that first,” Leigh-Anne says picking up her Canon.

 

“I am a serious candidate,” Louis says fake offended.

 

Niall chuckles. 

 

“Whatever. Get up and stand in front of that wall,” Leigh-Anne gestures to the blank wall in Nialls living room.

 

Louis removes the markers from his lap and fixes his tie. He was wearing a casual white button up and a maroon tie. Leigh-Anne said it would “look more presidenty”. She said a blazer would be “too presidenty” so, Louis just opted for the shirt.

 

Louis walks to the wall, folds his hands around his crotch area and smiles as Leigh-Anne snaps the first photo. 

 

“Ok great, now hold this book so you look smarter,” she says handing Louis  _ Moby Dick. _

 

Louis holds the book and smiles. Leigh-Anne doesn’t take a photo.

 

“You’re not advertising the book, you idiot!” she says lowering the camera. Nialls laugh travels through the small room. “Pretend like you’re reading it,”

 

Louis rolls his eyes and does as he is told.

 

“Perfect!” Leigh-Anne says snapping a few photos.

 

…

 

After their 40 minutes of taking photos, they place the printed pictures on his poster. Leigh-Anne was right. He did look “presidenty”. They spent quite a lot of time trying to come up with a campaign slogan, but they couldn’t find a decent one. Leigh-Anne’s slogan was “Leigh-Anne will, and she can!”.  _ Pretty stupid.  _ Louis came to the conclusion that slogans were lame so he decided to stop trying. Nick’s slogan wasn’t as bad as Leigh-Annes. It was “Nick is the best pick!”. Louis hated it but he knew that it had a nice ring to it.

 

“Wednesday the candidates are gonna say why they want to be president during the assembly,” “Are you prepared?” Niall asks both of them.

 

“I’m prepared! I don’t know about Louis though,” Leigh-Anne says confidently. 

 

Louis was not prepared. He forgot about the assembly. He starts getting worried. Leigh-Anne and Niall both notice.

 

“Louis, don’t worry, I can help you with your speech,” “We have a 2 minute limit so you’re fine,” Leigh-Anne says putting a hand on his shoulder. 

 

“Yeah, I’ll help too,” Niall says. 

 

What did Louis do to deserve such great friends like those two. Louis smiles and nods. They had work to do.

 

…

 

**12pm December 6th**

 

Louis sits on the stage, his leg is shaking uncontrollably.  _ Why did Leigh-Anne let me do this?  _ His mouth feels dry and he can’t focus on anything Mr. Jones is saying into the mic. Leigh-Anne rubs his knee to calm him down.

 

“It’ll be alright,” she whispers. 

 

It won’t be alright of Louis messes up. He never got nervous. Ever. He was always the one who would dance on a table or run around a McDonalds screaming about nuggets. But being on stage was different. The whole school was watching, not just his friends. 

 

He doesn’t even notice Leigh-Anne was finished with her speech until she walked back to sit down after the applause. She gestures towards the mic indicating that it was Louis’ turn. Louis sighs and stands up walking to the podium. He looks into the audience and finds Niall’s reassuring face. He feels a lot better already. He clears his throat and begins to speak.

 

“Hello, my name is Louis Tomlinson, I’m in year 13 and I’m running for Student President of St. Anne Secondary School,” he starts. The crowd applauses before he can continue.

 

“I’ve been walking the halls of St. Anne for five years now and I was never satisfied with how our school was running. Why is the lunch food so expensive? Why are some clubs not getting the attention they deserve? Why are teachers giving out homework during finals week? These are issues that I would like to face if you elect me president. There is so much injustice in this school that I would want to fix. There will be no more 8 pound burgers, no more neglection of after school activities, and there will absolutely no homework during exams!”. The crowd erupts in applause but Louis wasn’t even finished yet. Louis’ confidence comes back. “I will also be making sure that this school is an open campus during lunch, this means you can eat out for lunch too! McDonalds is right across the street guys! When I’m your president, you can eat as many Big Macs as you want!” he exclaims. A roar of claps sounds in the auditorium. Louis is quite pleased with himself. “Vote for me to get your rights back!” he finishes even though he had more to his speech, he thought he would end there noticing that his two minutes were almost up. He pumps his fist in the air dramatically and the crowd screams like he is some sort of rockstar. He smiles and turns back to sit next to Leigh-Anne who was beaming. Louis was satisfied with himself and he didn’t stop smiling even when it was Nick’s turn to do his speech.

 

_ Something about acceptance blah blah blah, friendship blah blah.  _ Nicks speech didn’t get as much applause as Louis’ did but he did grab the attention of a few people in the front row who were screaming his name. Louis rolled his eyes, he didn’t have to worry about those people. He could win without ‘em.

 

…

 

Louis and Niall walk through the hallways admiring the posters they hung up until they stumble upon Nicks poster.

 

It was a photo of Nick holding a pride flag that had letters on it that said “Nick is the best pick!” in all capital letters. Louis chuckled at the corniness of it and went to look at his own poster. He looked good. Like a real president.  _ Almost as handsome as Barack Obama.  _ Louis thinks to himself. Louis’ happiness is ruined when a certain tall person comes next to Niall.

 

“Harry mate, what’s up?” Niall slaps his shoulder.

 

“Ah nothing much, just looking to see who’s running,” Harry says looking at Louis. Louis feels Harry looking at him but he just looks straight at Nicks poster again.

 

“Oh, you’re running against Nick? Tough competition,” Harry says looking at the poster.

 

“I can manage,” Louis scoffs still staring at the poster.

 

His eyes start to hurt looking at Nick so he turns to Harry.

 

“Why’re you still here?” Louis asks knowing it came out rude.

 

Niall shoves him and gives him a confused look. Louis rolls his eyes like he does every hour of the day.

 

“Just wanted to warn ya,” Harry says pointing at Nicks poster. “A lot of people like him,”

 

“Oh so you like him then?” Louis inquires.

 

“Liked,”

 

Louis and Niall turn at that.

 

“Liked?” Niall questions.

 

Harry nods his head to Nicks poster again. “He’s my ex,”

 

_ They dated?  _ Louis didn’t care much about Harry’s personal life to know this.

 

“Wait, there as time where you were actually monogamous?” Louis asks genuinely shocked. He could never imagine Harry being with one single person considering he has a new person over weekly. 

 

“Yes, Louis, I was monogamous,” “He wasn’t,” he says looking down.

 

_ Oh. Nick cheated on Harry.  _ Louis feels slightly guilty for Harry now. Only a little. Tiny, tiny bit of pity.

 

“Oh that sucks mate,” Niall says patting Harry on the back.

 

“Yeah, but I’m over it,” “Good luck, Louis,” he nods towards Louis.

 

“Uh… thank you?” Louis says almost like a question. To be truthful, he was still thinking about Nick cheating on Harry. No matter how much Louis hated Harry, no one deserves to be cheated on. Harry nods again and walks away but no before patting Niall on the back.

 

Once he’s gone Niall turns to him.

 

“You’re a dick ye know?” Niall says half seriously.

 

“Yeah, I know,” Louis smiles and starts walking with Niall by his side.

 

“Lou… what happened with you guys? I never figured it out, you were friends for like almost 10 years and you just-” Niall tries to think of how to say it. “Stopped,”.

 

“People grow apart, Neil,” “It’s no big deal,”

 

“Well people grow apart but they don’t start hating each other unless there’s a reason,”

 

Louis honestly couldn’t think of just one reason why he hated Harry Styles so much. He had a lot of reasons to hate him and that was just that.

 

“Niall, I don’t want to talk about this ok?” Louis says seriously. Niall accepts his loss and nods.

 

…

 

**5pm December 6th**

 

Being on the phone with his Mother is something Harry would usually be excited about , but when she starts bringing up irrelevant topics, Harry has to fight the urge to hang out. With his Mum in Berkshire filming “Great British Bake Off”, Harry doesn’t always have enough time to speak with her so, he takes every opportunity that he can.

 

_ “So, Jay said that you and Louis had a sleepover! Was it fun?”  _ Anne asked through the phone. Harry could hear her smile.

 

“Mum, he only slept over because he didn’t want to go home after the party,” Harry lies. He didn’t want to expose Louis for being completely pissed at the party. He is of age. He can drink legally , but Harry didn’t think Jay would like to know that her son got drunk trying to beat Harry in a competition.

 

_ “Oh, well, I’m glad you two are friends again,” _

 

“Mum, for the last time. We aren’t friends again,” he says rubbing his temple.

 

_ “You two were so close baby. What happened?” _

 

“I don’t know Mum,” he says, noticeably annoyed.

 

_ “I hope one day you can work something out,”  _ she says sadly. 

 

“Doubt it,” he mumbles.

 

_ “What did you say sweetie?” _

 

“Um, nothing,” “Actually Mum, I need to do some homework. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,”

 

_ “Oh, oh, that’s fine. Bye Harry. I love you,” _

 

“Love you too, Mum,” he finishes and hangs up. He usually wouldn’t end a phone call with his Mum so fast but he was really getting tired of the Louis talks they had been having all week.

 

Harry suddenly feels his phone buzz. He picks it up to read the text.

 

_ Luke: Heyyyy Harry ;) _

 

It’s Luke. 

 

_ Harry: Yessss _

_ Luke: can i come over??? _

 

Harry has mental battle with himself trying to decide if he should invite Luke over or not. Luke was a closeted gay from the footie team. He and Harry had been doing “stuff” for a month until Luke never texted again. But he’s back. Harry wasn’t proud of having more than one sexual partner, but it kept him busy. People were aware of his non monogamous behaviour. It all started when Harry was cheated on by his first and only real boyfriend, Nick. After their awful breakup, Harry did whatever made him feel less alone. That was letting random guys (sometimes girls) into his house weekly for a quick hookup. Harry knew that it was wrong, using these people for his own pleasure. He just couldn't stop. He hadn’t been able to find another boyfriend since Nick so, he just gave up. 

 

_ Luke: ???? _

_ Harry: Oh yeah, sorry come over :) _

 

…

 

_ Louis: UGHHHHHH _

_ Niall: harry’s got some1 over again? :/ _

_ Louis: u know me so well :,) _

_ Niall: DO NOT. I REPEAT. DO NOT GO OVER TO HIS HOUSE AGAIN. _

_ Louis: yeah i wont.the first time was awkkkkk _

_ Louis: wait _

_ Louis: they’re finished. Thank goddd _

_ Louis: woohoo it’s over !! _

_ Niall: now u can sleep _

_ Niall: cranky louis is the worst louis _

_ Louis: im gonna look and see who it is _

_ Niall: creep _

_ Louis: niall _

_ Louis: niall omg _

_ Niall: WHAT? WHAT? _

_ Louis: IT’S LUKE _

_ Niall: ur lying _

_ Louis: no im serious _

_ Louis: im gonna send u a pic hes getting in his car _

_ Louis: *photo* _

_ Niall: oh _

_ Niall: my _

_ Niall: god _

 

…

 

**11:30am December 8th**

 

“Ugh,” Leigh-Anne groans looking down the table “Luke Adamson is so bloody attractive,” she sighs.

Louis chokes on his Nesquik. Niall tries to swallow his water without spitting it out. It had been two days since Louis saw Luke leaving Harry’s house. Niall was the only person he told about what he saw. It wasn’t his job to out Luke. It would be disrespectful and wrong. Louis had never thought of Luke being gay. He was probably the most attractive person on the team. The girls were obsessed with him. Every guy wants to be Luke. They want that attention.

 

“Yeah, he really is,” Jesy agrees as she starts staring at Luke as well.

 

Louis couldn’t stand hearing this.

 

“Um, Niall, you wanna help me pass out flyers?” Louis asks even though he notices that Niall hadn’t even finished his lunch.

 

Niall was obviously uncomfortable sitting at the table so he nodded and stood up discarding his food in the bin. Louis handed him a stack of flyers and they passed out the mini campaign posters Louis had made on Photoshop. 

 

Niall went to the left side of the cafeteria while Louis went to the right side of the cafeteria. The right side is where Nick’s group of friends sat so, he knew he wouldn’t have much luck there, but it was worth a shot. He passed out flyers to the photo geeks and then moved on to Harry’s group of friends, the random artsy people. Zayn and Liam were there as well.

 

“Hey Louis,” Harry says. Louis is confused why Harry would even acknowledge him. He just nods in response looking down. He couldn’t look Harry in the eye knowing what was going on with Luke. Harry notices Louis’ discomfort. 

 

“Um… ye alright?” Harry asks. It almost sounded like he genuinely cared.

 

Louis’ head shoots up at.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, um, here’s a flyer,” he hands everyone at the table a flyer. “Vote for me,” he simply says and quickly walks away without saying hi to Zayn or Liam. 

 

He approaches a large table filled with 20+ people.  _ Perfect _ . It’s a lunch club. Some clubs had meetings during lunch instead of after school. There weren’t enough rooms to hold clubs. As president, Louis would fix that by opening the cafeteria after school to hold meetings.

 

“Hello…” Louis starts trying to figure out the name of the club by observing the members. They looked pretty normal so he couldn’t think of a stereotypical club like Robotics club. They didn’t look like they did Robotics.

 

“Gay-Straight Alliance club,” the blonde in the front of the table said. Louis nods. The girl was Perrie Edwards. Girlfriend of Jade Thirlwall, president of GSA. Louis heard a lot about her. She was a fighter. She never took no for an answer and she stood up for what she believed in. She was never one to give up. She was the kind of person Louis thought he’d be friends with, but Perrie didn’t like him for some reason.

 

“Right…” Louis says.

 

“Ok, so, as you know, I’m running for President and I know you guys wanted to hold your meetings after school instead of during lunch. So, if you elect me as president, I can make that happen a week into my term,” he says confidently.

 

He hands Perrie a flyer, but she returns it back to him.

 

“We’re voting for Nick,” Perrie says looking around the table to receive the nods to her.

 

Louis stands there awkwardly, but like Perrie, he never gave up. 

 

“What makes Nick a better candidate than me?” he asks, genuinely curious.

 

Perrie stands up and Louis backs up a bit. He’s slightly intimidated. 

 

“Well, number one, he’s not homophobic, like you. Number two he-” Perrie is cut off by Louis waving his hands like a crazy person.

 

“Wha- what,” “When have I ever been homophobic?!” he exclaims. “I’m literally bisexual!”  _ Gay.  _

 

“Oh you want me to give you examples?” Perrie stands taller.

 

“Yes, please tell me,” Louis says putting his hand dramatically on his cheek, looking attentive.

 

“You shouted ‘That’s gay’ when we were watching  _ Moonlight  _ for film class, you made fun of homosexual intercourse when you tweeted a peach emoji and an eggplant emoji, twice! You also drew penises on our club posters in year 12,” she says counting with her fingers. Her GSA minions nod at her and she smiles.

 

“And that, is why we aren’t voting for you,” she finishes, sitting down at her table. Jade puts an arm around her waist and gives Louis a sympathetic smile.

 

Louis didn’t know what to say. He just nods and walks away awkwardly. This election suddenly got slightly more difficult.

 

…


	3. Chapter 3

**6pm December 8th**

 

“And she literally called me, homophobic! Me!” Louis paces around Nialls living room as Leigh-Anne and Niall watch in confusion.

 

“I’m literally gay!” he exclaims getting on his knees and putting his face down into the couch next to wear Leigh-Anne was sitting. She pats his back, obviously unsure of what to say. She looks at Niall for assistance. He only shrugs.

 

“Um, Louis. Have you ever thought about, I don’t know, coming out as gay?” Niall asks softly. Louis turns his head to look at him.

 

“Look, everyone already thinks you’re bi, would it be so hard to just say ‘Hey I’m gay’?” Niall says.

 

“Actually, Niall, it’s quite hard,” Louis stands up and goes back to pacing. “You know how hard it was to come out as bi”, he pauses reminiscing. “I don’t wanna go through that again,”.

 

Niall and Leigh-Anne nod knowingly. 

 

“You’re idea isn’t bad at all Niall. I really do need the support of GSA. They could guarantee me the win,” he says stopping to think. 

 

“Ha, ye know. People would stop calling you homophobic if you actually had a boyfriend,” Niall laughs to himself. “They’ve only seen you with girls over the past 5 years,”

 

A smile forms on Louis’ face. 

 

“Niall!” he jumps. “You’re right!”

 

“What?!” Leigh-Anne and Niall both exclaim. 

 

“If I get a boyfriend, they can’t call me homophobic anymore! You’re a genius Niall!” he dances.

 

“Mate, thanks, but I was only kidding,” Niall says looking a bit worried.

 

“I need a boyfriend quick!” Louis says, the pacing starting once again.

 

“How are you going to get a boyfriend that quickly?” Leigh-Anne asks concerned.

 

“Um, actually I don’t know,” Louis’ excitement dies down.

 

“Also, you would only being using your boyfriend to win and that’s not fair,” she continues.

 

Louis frowns and groans. He thinks for a bit. Then he gets an idea. 

 

“I have an idea!” he starts jumping again.

 

“What is it,” Niall asks sitting up straight.

 

“I get a fake boyfriend,” Louis says with a wide smile.

 

Niall signals for him to continue.

 

“So, I hire some dude to pretend to date me and after the election, I dump him,” he says putting air quotes around dump.

 

“That’s an awful idea,” Leigh-Anne says.

 

“That is an amazing idea!” Niall says high-fiving Louis.

 

Leigh-Anne rolls her eyes but Louis ignores it.

 

“I have some money saved so I can pay the bloke about 200 pounds,” he starts, thinking his plan through.

 

“Mate, you need to hire someone from school,” “It’ll make it more believable” Niall says leaning forward.

 

Louis begins thinking of eligible bachelors. “Ok, so, I can’t do anyone from GSA ‘cause they all hate me,” he says thinking hard. Most of the gays at St. Anne were in GSA so, that doesn’t leave many options. 

 

Louis is snapped out of his thoughts when he hears Niall laughing.

 

“Ha! What about Luke!” he cackles. Leigh-Anne snaps her head towards Niall.  _ Oops.  _ Leigh-Anne didn’t know about the Luke situation.

 

“Luke Adamson?” she asks confused.

 

Louis and Niall exchange a few looks before Niall speaks.

 

“Um, sorry to break it to ya, Leigh, but Luke isn’t straight,” Niall says his smile dying down a bit.

 

“What?!” Leigh-Anne exclaims.

 

“Ok, I’ll explain,” Louis says sitting down next to her.

 

“So, I heard Styles smashing someone next door on Wednesday,” “When they were finished, I saw Luke leaving his house,” he said. “I know you had a crush on him, sorry Leigh,”.

 

Leigh-Anne rapidly shakes her head. “Oh my god…”

 

“But you can’t tell anyone,” Louis says.

 

Leigh-Anne starts giggling.

 

“What’s so funny?” Louis asks.

 

“I was thinking…” “You should have Harry Styles be your fake boyfriend,” she laughs. Niall starts laughing too. Hard. Louis’ face doesn’t move a muscle.

 

“You are insane,” he says standing up.

 

“Seriously, Louis,” she stands up too. “It would be perfect. No one would see it coming and that makes it 10 times more believable!” she says looking at Niall for help.

 

“Yeah, Lou, she’s right. All the gay blokes are in GSA or they’re in the closet,” “Harry’s the only one left,” Niall says grinning.

 

Louis thinks for a minute. Leigh-Anne and Niall exchanging looks the whole time.

 

Louis finally looks up at them. “Fine, I’ll do it,” he says sitting down on the couch. Leigh-Anne and Niall both stand up and start cheering.

 

Louis chuckles, “I hate you both so much,”.

 

…

 

**12pm December 9th**

 

Harry chose to sleep in on Saturday because why not? He had no plans. He had no parents to tell him to wake up. He was woken up by the doorbell ringing repeatedly and banging on his front door. He sleepily gets up from his bed and rubs his eyes. He slumps down the stairs to open the door. He sees Louis Tomlinson. He’s wearing glasses, a too tight white shirt and grey joggers. Louis invites himself inside.

 

“Come on in, Tomlinson,” Harry says sarcastically. 

 

“We need to talk,” Louis says letting himself into the kitchen. He puts water into the kettle. Harry is too tired to understand what was going on. 

 

“Um, ok, I’ll just get ready and come on down,” Harry says walking out of the kitchen.

 

“You still like your tea with two sugars right?” Louis calls after him. Harry turns around and nods.  _ Why is Louis being so nice? He probably wants something big. It better not be money. _

 

Harry goes upstairs to quickly brush his teeth and change from his pajama shirt into an oversized black sweater. He kept his pajama pants on because he was freezing. He wants downstairs to find a cup of tea on the counter and Louis sitting down at the kitchen table with his own cup. He motions for Harry to sit in the chair in front of him. Harry hesitantly sits down. He looks down at his tea suspiciously. 

 

“Don’t worry Styles, I didn’t poison it,” “I don’t hate you that much,” Louis says taking a sip of his own tea.

 

Harry lifts his mug and takes a sip.  _ Safe. _

 

“Why are you here?” Harry asks knowing it came off slightly rude.

 

“Well…”  _ Here we go.  _ “As you know, I’m running for president,” 

 

“Yes, I’m aware Louis,” he says taking another sip.

 

“I really wanna win,” Louis says.

 

“Ok...and,”  _ Get on with it. _

 

“So basically, yesterday, I was trying to give a flyer to GSA but they rejected me and called me homophobic!” “I can’t believe they would call me homophobic!” “When have I ever been homophobic?”

 

“Well, you did call me a fag last week,” Harry says looking him straight in the eye. He still isn’t over that. 

 

“Oh yeah,” Louis says avoiding the subject further.

 

“Well aren’t you gonna says sorry?” Harry asks raising his voice.

 

“Oh, um, yeah, sorry for calling you, um- that,” Louis says like it was impossible for him to apologise.

 

Harry nods at his weak apology.

 

“So again, why are you here?” Harry asks again.

 

“Ok so, I don’t want people to think I’m a homophobe. I’m really not. , but people think I am,” “So… I had this idea to have a fake boyfriend- just for election season,” “I thought you would be the perfect candidate,” he says smiling.

 

Harry spits out his tea on the table. Some gets on Louis and he wipes it off himself disgusted. Harry doesn’t have time to laugh because he’s so shocked.

 

“What are you on?” Harry asks starting to chuckle.

 

“What?”

 

“You must be on crack to think that I would do this!” Harry says almost laughing now.

 

“Harry, I’m serious,” Louis pleads.

 

“What in the world makes you think I would do this?!” Harry exclaims.

 

“200 pounds,”

 

“200 pounds isn’t gonna make m-,”

 

“And I’ll tutor you in Calculus!” Louis blurts out.

 

“What?” Harry is very confused.

 

“I said,” he pauses. “I’ll tutor you. I know you’re almost failing. I’ll help you, if you help me,” Louis says seriously. Harry stops laughing.

 

“What would being your fake boyfriend require?” Harry asks suddenly interested. 

 

Louis smiles. Harry hates that. But it’s cute. So naturally, Harry blushes. “Ok so, you would just like hold my hand at school and stuff, maybe show up at a few parties, and post cute coupley instagram photos of us,” Louis says.

 

“And I promise you, you will pass Calc with a good grade,” he continues. Harry contemplates the offer as he finishes his tea. He gives in when he sees Louis giving him a small pout.  _ It’s adorable.  _ Harry mentally slaps himself for that. 

 

“Fine,” Harry says. Louis smiles grows extremely wide. He hops out of his seat and wraps his arms around Harry and squeezes him tight. 

 

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” he says tightening his grip. Harry wraps his arms around him return. Louis finally lets go so he can jump around the kitchen and Harry suddenly misses Louis’ arms around his body. He ignores that when he chuckles fondly seeing Louis run around the kitchen. Harry missed this Louis. Happy Louis. 

 

“Ok, Tigger, you can stop now,” Harry laughs. Louis leans against the counter to catch his breath. Harry absolutely does NOT stare at Louis’ abs that were sticking through his tight white shirt. He doesn't. Not at all. 

 

“So...when do we start?” Harry asks taking their empty mugs to the sink.

 

“Tonight,” Louis says.

 

“Tonight?!” Harry exclaims almost dropping the mugs into the sink.

 

“Yes, tonight. Zayn is having a party and Perrie is 100% gonna be there so she could see us,” Louis says.

 

Harry nods. “Speaking of Zayn, are we gonna tell him that we’re not really together?” 

 

“Of course not!” Louis replies shocked that Harry would even ask such a dumb question. 

 

“Why?” Harry asks dumbly.

 

“If we tell Zayn, he’ll tell Liam and we both know that Liam has a big mouth,” Louis explains. Harry doesn’t protest because he knows that Louis’ right. Liam is Harry’s #1 best friend but even he doesn’t trust Liam with a big secret.

 

“Does anyone else besides us know?” 

 

“Niall and Leigh-Anne know and it’s gonna stay like that,” Louis says lifting himself up on the counter.

 

Harry nods.

 

“What about our Mums?” he asks.

 

“Oh, I was thinking about you know, not telling them,” Louis starts. “If me Mum thinks we’re dating, she’ll finally get off my back,”

 

“What d’ya mean?” Harry asks genuinely confused.

 

“She’s been asking me to hang out with you for years, but I know that we both didn’t want that,” he gestures between the two of them.  _ Oh. _

 

“So, if we were to date,” he air quotes. “She would stop bothering me about us becoming mates again,” he says looking down at his dangling feet.

 

Harry didn’t know why they stopped being friends. Harry thought that they were at the peak of their friendship when they ended it. They were about to head to high school. Harry was ready to hang out at lunch with Louis, and make new friends that he would keep forever. Louis was originally a grade above before he was held back. Harry expected to hang out with older kids and Louis , but it never happened because Louis dropped Harry as a friend when he was in grade 7. Harry remembered crying in his bedroom every night before he went to sleep because Louis had shut his window that he and Harry would communicate through. Louis eventually became closer with Niall and Harry became closer with Liam. They both had to be in each others presence again when Zayn, who was a mutual friend of both of them, had decided to join the footie team. “Please tryout,” Zayn would beg Harry every week until tryouts. Harry didn’t make the team but the coach kept him as a replacement. Harry finally got his spot on the team after Louis was kicked off. He didn’t feel bad about it at all. It’s what he deserved for making him cry in his pillow every night for months.

 

“Harry?” Louis asks snapping him out of his thoughts.

 

“Oh, yeah, so, tonight?”

 

“Um, yeah, yeah, okay, I’ll pick you up at 8?” Louis asks hopping off the counter, exiting the kitchen. 

 

Harry nods.

 

“Oh and Harry,” “Don’t dress stupid,” he says opening the front door himself.

 

“Don’t worry Louis, I won’t dress like a fag,” Harry snaps. Louis frowns. He was obviously taken back.

 

“Harry, I said I was sorry,” he said softly looking into Harry’s eyes.  _ Fuck. _

 

“I know,” Harry responds. And with that, Louis is out the door, walking in the cold back to his own house.

 

Harry groans thinking of what he just signed up for.

 

…

 

**8:30pm December 9th**

 

Louis smooths out his band t-shirt and stretched out his legs. He was ready. In 30 minutes he would be walking in to a party with his new “boyfriend”. He had to look good. He ran his hand through his hair for what seemed to be the 100th time and went downstairs. He sees his mother in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner. Earlier he had told her that him and Harry were mates again causing her to cry tears of joy. He wouldn’t tell her about the dating part yet or else she would get suspicious. He walks into the kitchen. She looks him up and down.

 

“Louis you look great boo,” she says dusting off his shoulder. “Harry’s gonna love it!” she says causing Louis to unintentionally blush. 

 

“Mum, I didn’t dress like this for Harry,” he says giggling.

 

“Are you sure sweetie? You seemed quite fond of him when you were talking about him earlier,” she smiles.

 

“I’m sure Mum,” he rolls his eyes.

 

“I remember when you were little you would always say: ‘When I grow up, I’m going to marry Harry and we’re going to live in a big house with 12 babies’” she says giggling. 

 

Louis blushes again. He’s embarrassed. He did remember saying that, but it was in the past. Louis was just a confused little kid. 

 

“Mum, that was years ago! I don’t think like that anymore,” he groans.

 

“Whatever you say sweetie,” she says returning to the dishes.

 

Louis comes up behind her and gives her a kiss on the cheek. She returns the kiss and they exchange goodbyes. Louis grabs his coat and exits the house.

 

…

 

Harry hears the doorbell ring. He fixes his hair in the mirror and opens the door to see Louis in an oversized puffer jacket. He looked tiny.

 

“You’re late,” Harry says.

 

“Well I’m sorry princess,” he replies motioning for him to come outside.  _ Princess.  _ Harry exits the house and leads Louis to his car. Louis hops in to the familiar Audi and buckles his seatbelt. 

 

“So, this is how it’s gonna go down,” Louis starts as Harry begins driving. “We’re gonna enter the house, holding hands. We’re gonna dance a bit together and maybe a little pda and then-,”

 

“PDA?!” Harry takes his eyes off the road to look at Louis.

 

“Yeah, public display of affection,”

 

“I’m not stupid Louis, I know what it means. What do you mean by PDA. What?” Harry asks returning his eyes to the road.

 

“Just hugging, maybe a few whispers,” Louis says.

 

“Okay that’s fine,” Harry nods.

 

“The election ends February 1st so, you have to do this for that long, if you can. I hope you can,” Louis tells him.  _ February 1st.  _ That was Harry’s birthday. Louis probably didn’t remember.

 

“Ok,”

 

“And also Harry…” “You can’t have your, uh, visitors anymore,” Louis says awkwardly.

 

Harry gets what he’s trying to say. He’s fine with that.  _ Kinda.  _ Sex-free for about 2 months. He can try to manage.  _ Try. _

 

“Yeah cool,” Harry responds knowing he would have to text a bunch of people to break the news to them.

 

…

 

They finally pull into Zayn's driveway. They both look at each other and nod. They step out of the car, take a deep breath and intertwine their cold fingers. A rush of warmth fills Louis’ body when they touch. He wonders if Harry feels it too. They walk up to the front door and look at each other one more time before Louis opens the door. The rush of familiar warm air and the smell of alcohol fills their noses. Louis already feels eyes on them. They walk through the crowd to find Zayn sitting on the couch rolling a joint. His eyes almost pop out of his head when he sees the two boys.

 

“What the fuck!” he exclaims loudly. People's heads turn to see what was going on.

 

“Wha-what-what the fuck?” Zayn can barely get a word out. He’s just pointing to their interlocked fingers.

 

“Harry and I are-uh,” Louis gulps. “Dating?”.

 

“Wha-when-how did this happen?” Zayn asks standing up abandoning his weed. 

 

“Oh-uh,” Louis hadn’t thought of a background story.

 

“Louis swung by my house a few days ago to apologise for being a dick to me for the past 5 years,” Harry says bluntly. “He also told me that he’d only been acting this way because he had a massive crush on me! Who woulda thought?”.

 

Louis squeezes Harry’s hand in frustration. That story made it seem as if he was the one who approached Harry! Well, he was the one who approached Harry, but if this relationship were to be real, it would definitely be Harry who was begging Louis to date him.

 

Louis smiles and nods trying to hold his anger inside. 

 

“Yep! That’s exactly what happened,” Louis grits through his teeth.

 

Zayn nods and Liam looks at them suspiciously. 

 

“Well, we better get to drinking!” Louis says waving goodbye to Liam and Zayn. He leads Harry through the mass of people until they reach the table of drinks.

 

“The fuck was that?” Louis asks shoving Harry’s shoulder.

 

Harry giggles.  _ He fucking giggles.  _

 

“Sorry babe. You couldn’t come up with a backstory fast enough,” he says pouring himself a drink.

 

“Don’t call me that!” Louis says getting himself a drink as well.

 

Harry is about to respond when Nick  _ fucking  _ Grimshaw shows up, drink in hand.

 

“Harry!” Nick exclaims.

 

He’s wearing a hawaiian shirt that looked like something Harry would buy himself. His jeans were also extremely tight. His briefs line was showing. 

 

“Nick!” Harry smiles.  _ Why is he smiling? _

 

“How’ve you been?” Nick asks.

 

“I’ve been good,” Harry says. “Mum’s been gone for a little over a week now. Kinda miss ‘er,”.

 

_ Why is Harry being so casual with the guy who cheated on him? _ __   
  


“Oh yeah! She’s gonna be gone for awhile though. We both know how good her baking is!” Nick says giving Harry a playful shove. Harry’s cheeks redden. Louis is angry.

 

“Oh, Tomlinson! Didn’t see ya there!” Nick says noticing Louis from behind Harry.

 

“Hello, Nick,” Louis says putting an arm around Harry’s waist. Harry freezes under the touch.

 

“Almost didn’t see ya there behind Harry!” Nick laughs. Harry laughs too. Louis hated height jokes.

 

“Almost didn’t see you there behind your big ego,” Louis mumbles but Nick and Harry both hear. Harry steps on Louis’ shoe for that.

 

“Right...well...good luck Tomlinson,” “I’m glad you’re running against me. I love a bit of competition,” Nick says about to leave. Before he does, he gives Harry a small hug.

 

“Sorry to leave on such  _ short  _ notice,” Nick says laughing as he pats Louis’ head. Louis immediately fixes his fringe after that. Harry laughs and says goodbye to Nick.

 

Once he’s out of sight, Louis speaks up.

 

“Why are you so nice to him?” Louis asks glaring at Nick from a distance.

 

“Oh, we’re friends,” Harry simply says taking a sip from his drink.

 

“You’re an idiot,” Louis says.

 

Harry looks confused. Louis looks at him.

 

“You can’t just be friends with the guy who cheated on you!” Louis exclaims.

 

“You don’t understand,” Harry looks down.

 

“What don’t I understand?” “What’s so confusing about not being friends with the dude who broke your heart?!” 

 

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Harry says.

 

Louis groans. “You’re so stubborn,” “No wonder why Nick gave up on you,” Louis blurts out rolling his eyes. 

 

Harry doesn’t say anything. Louis looks up to him and sees a look of sadness.  _ Shit.  _

 

“Look, Harry I’m so-”

 

“It’s whatever Lou,” Harry drinks again. 

 

Louis nods that weird feeling of guilt he hated has returned.

 

They stand there in awkward silence when,  _ Thank God,  _ Leigh-Anne and Niall show up.

 

“How’s my favorite couple?” Leigh-Anne jokingly asks shimmying her way over.

 

Louis sees that Harry smiles at that. 

 

“We’re doing great, Leigh,” Louis lies. Harry nods in agreement.

 

“Eh, you guys don’t look like a couple to me,” Niall says taking a sip from his solo cup.

 

“What d’ya mean?” Harry asks looking between Louis and Niall.

 

“You aren’t touching each other, you’re not dancing, and you literally look like you hate each other,” Niall says counting with his fingers.  _ He isn’t wrong. _

 

Harry puts an arm around Louis and scoots in closer to him.

 

“Is this better?” Harry asks Niall. 

 

He nods. “But you also gotta look like you’re not miserable,” he suggests chuckling a bit. 

 

Louis and Harry make the fakest smiles possibly and Leigh-Anne and Niall start laughing uncontrollably. 

 

“Ugh, you two are so cute,” Niall says wiping his eyes.

 

Louis and Harry look at each other confused.

 

Leigh-Anne nods. “Yeah you are quite cute,”.

 

“Um, thanks?” Harry says smile gone.

 

Leigh-Anne and Niall nod. 

 

“Wait I should get a picture of you two looking cute so you could post it on Instagram,” Leigh-Anne says whipping her phone out.

 

“Start dancing,” Niall says. Harry and Louis oblige.

 

Louis learns that Harry still cannot dance. At all. He dances very clumsily and almost falls over, Louis laughs hard. Leigh-Anne quickly snaps a photo of the moment.

 

“Aw, a candid,” she says showing Louis and Harry the picture. The photo shows Louis’ eyes were squinting from laughing while Harry was smiling about to fall over. The photo was blurry but they looked like a real couple having fun. 

 

…

 

They spent the whole party chatting with Leigh-Anne and Niall in the corner. They talked about school and family. It felt odd to Louis because it felt like he and Harry were friends. They didn’t argue or say anything hurtful to each other in 3 hours. It was different. 

 

Louis and Harry decided to leave. They had sobered up quite quickly so it was safe for them to drive home. On their way out, Harry stops Louis in the middle of the dance floor and pulls him closer.

 

“What are doing?” Louis angrily whispered.

 

“Perrie is here,” he whispers into Louis’ neck, tilting his head towards where Perrie and Jade were dancing.

 

Louis nods leaning his backside into Harry’s front. They dance like that for a minute until Perrie sees them. Louis reaches behind him and grabs Harry’s head so he could rest it on Louis’ shoulder. They dance a bit faster now, a little risque. Perrie smiles at them and Louis returns the smile until she goes back to dancing with Jade. Louis moves away from Harry and sighs. Louis faces Harry and sees how red his face was.

 

“Got ya a bit worked up huh,” Louis jokes grabbing Harry’s hand to lead him out.

 

Harry doesn’t respond. He stand there frozen until he sees Louis’ hand. They leave the house without saying another word.

 

…

 

The car ride is silent but it isn’t as uncomfortable as Harry thought it would be.

 

He pulls up to Louis’ house and waits for him to get out.

 

“I’ll be by your house tomorrow at like noon? Yeah,” Louis says unbuckling his seatbelt. 

 

“Wait, what?” Harry stutters.

 

“I promised to help tutor you in Calc,” “We start tomorrow,” Louis says hopping out of the car.

 

“Goodnight, Harry thanks,” he says as he slammed the door.

 

Harry smiles at that. 

 

…

 

**10am December 10th**

 

Harry really doesn’t know why he felt the need to look extra good this morning. He took two showers, fixed his hair 80 times, and spent 2 hours looking for the perfect outfit. He settled for black adidas football shorts that Luke had left behind one day and a loose white muscle tee. He decided to put on baseball cap and turn it backwards. He looked like a proper jock. He  _ absolutely _ did not hope that Louis would think he looked good. He sprayed himself in his Tom Ford cologne and looked at himself satisfied.  _ Okay Louis is coming over in 2 hou- _ The doorbell rings.  _ Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck… _

 

Harry runs down the stairs to open the door. A rush of cold air enters the house.  _ Oh yeah it’s winter _ . Louis is standing in front of him with a huge jacket on and heavy sweatpants.  _ Oh. _

 

Louis laughs before he walks into the house. Harry rolls his eyes.

 

“What are you wearing?!” Louis exclaims trying to breath.

 

Harry frowns and walks towards the kitchen. Louis follows.

 

“Why are you so early?” Harry asks walking to the kettle. 

 

“Well, I felt bad about coming to your house late last night,” “It wasn’t the best first impression as a fake boyfriend,” Louis says taking his jacket off, revealing his oversized blue sweatshirt that was almost off the shoulder. He looked warm. Harry looked like he was about to vacation in the Bahamas.

 

Harry nods as he grabs two mugs from cabinet about the sink. 

 

“I like it with no-”

 

“No sugar, just milk,” “I remember, Louis,” Harry says grabbing the milk from the fridge. Louis’ face softens and a smile appears.

 

“Um…do you have any textbooks or do I have to get mine?” Louis asks as he stretches.

 

“I have mine. They’re upstairs. We can work at my desk,” Harry replies pouring water into the mugs.

 

Louis nods and waits for Harry to finish making his tea.

 

Harry hands him and the mug and starts walking upstairs. “Thanks,”.

 

Harry opens up his bedroom door and lets Louis sit on the office chair while Harry brought a stool for him to sit on by the desk.

 

When they were younger they would both share the large office chair together, but Harry thought that would be inappropriate now considering how old they were.

 

Louis looks at the worksheets that Harry had placed in front of him. 

 

“Ok, um, let’s start with the unit circle,” Louis says picking up one of the worksheets.

 

“Um, yeah, let’s do that,”.

 

…

 

Louis left Harry’s house the time that he would supposed to be getting there if he hadn’t come early. Their study session was... _ awkward.  _ They sat at the same desk where they did their homework as kids so, old memories came back. 

 

_ Niall: soooo how was it???? ;) _

_ Louis: awkkkk _

_ Louis: why the winky face ? _

_ Niall: noooo reason ;) ;) ;) _

_ Niall: why was it awkward? _

_ Louis: he barely talked. I did most of the talking and he just took notes. _

_ Niall: haha i saw him grinding on u last night _

_ Louis: that wasnt grinding neil. We were dancing to get gsa queens attention _

_ Niall: and did that work? _

_ Louis: yes :) _

_ Niall: lol when u guys were doing it u shoulda seen styles’ face _

_ Niall: he was VERY into it _

_ Louis: shut up _

_ Niall: and u looked kinda into it too ;) ;) _

_ Louis: stop _

_ Niall: i bet everyone was wondering y u left so soon ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) _

_ Louis: im blocking u _

_ Niall: ;) _

 

…

 

**12pm December 11th**

 

Louis forced Harry to sit with his group during lunch to make it more believable. Liam and Zayn joined as well, leaving their other friends behind. It wasn’t a big deal because Louis’ “group” was basically the football team so Harry, Liam, and Zayn obviously knew them all. One thing that did make Louis uncomfortable was knowing that Luke was on the edge of the same table. Louis scoots in closer to Harry. 

 

“Championships are this Friday,” Niall states picking at his burger with his finger.

 

“You nervous?” Harry asks him.

 

“Hell yeah,” “We win every year and if we lose this one-,” Niall shakes his head not even wanting to think about it.

 

“You’re coming right?” Harry asks Louis, putting a hand on his thigh.

 

“Oh course, love,” Louis says loud enough for the whole table to here.

 

Zayn and Liam grin at them.

 

“It’s crazy how you guys got together so quickly,” Liam says smiling. “It feels like just yesterday, Harry was calling you a dumb dickface,” Liam finishes with a huge genuine smile.

 

Louis glares at Harry but all Harry gives is a dry chuckle.

 

“I was so immature back then,” Harry says defending himself. “I didn’t know what I was missing out on,” he says running his hand down Louis’ back.

 

“Mate ‘back then’ was last week!” Zayn laughs. The whole table laughs along too except for Louis who awkwardly smiles. Harry was going to pay for that later.

 

“Aw, don’t be upset Lou,” “I know you said a lot of mean things about me too. We’re over that now, right?” Harry asks. 

 

Louis nods. “Yes we are Haz,” Louis says bringing back his old childhood nickname for Harry.

 

Louis sees Harry smile in the corner of his eye. Harry brings him closer and kisses his cheek.

 

Louis freezes. He knows his face is turning red. Leigh-Anne drops her fork. Niall puts down his burger. Louis tenses up.  _ It was just a peck.  _ Harry is still smiling, oblivious to what he had just done and goes back to eating his salad. 

 

…

 

**7pm December 11th**

 

**leigh-anne sucks (3 unread)**

 

_ Niall: HAHHAHAHHAH UR FACE WAS HILARIOUS _

_ Leigh: STOP TEASING HIM _

_ Niall: did u see how red his face got OMG _

 

Louis sighs and opens their group chat.

 

_ Louis: can we change the group chat name to “niall sucks”? _

_ Leigh: yes _

_ Niall: NO _

_ Niall: but seriously mate. U FROZE _

_ Leigh: im gonna be honest, you looked so embarrassed it was soooo cute lou _

_ Louis: keep the name as “leigh-anne sucks” _

_ Leigh: *angry emoji* _

_ Niall: you looked like a tomato when he kissed u _

_ Louis: I WASNT PREPARED !!! _

_ Leigh: but you’re the one who mentioned pda to him _

_ Louis: i meant hugging _

_ Leigh: when u think of pda, you dont think of JUST hugging _

_ Louis: whatever it was just on the cheek nbd _

_ Leigh: yeah its not a big deal, NIALL _

_ Niall: whateverrrrrr. Wonder what its gonna be like when he kisses u for real _

_ Niall: ur gonna look like a fire hydrant _

_ Leigh: *laughing emoji* _

_ Louis: i dont say this enough but I HATE YOU BOTH _

 

…

 

**5pm December 15th**

 

Watching the game from the stands was definitely different for Louis. He was usually looking into the stands, not from them. Louis was really embarrassed coming to the game, his ex-coach would see him and so would the regular fans from around the area.

 

“Tomlinson! Why aren’t you playing?” an older fan from the neighborhood asked.

 

“Oh, I, I’m injured,” “Twisted me ankle last week,” Louis lies not wanting to admit that he was kicked off the team for poor grades. 

 

“What a shame! You were the best bloke out there,” the man says going back to his seat.

 

Leigh-Anne rubs his back. “Don’t be sad, Lou,” she says softly.

 

“M’ not sad,” he says leaning his head on her shoulder. “Just disappointed in myself,” 

 

Leigh-Anne doesn’t respond, she just puts an arm around him to comfort him.

 

Louis watches Harry running across the field. He’s wearing Louis, “Tomlinson” jersey because coach couldn’t afford to buy Harry his own jersey. Louis cringes whenever he saw his jersey playing on the field. If Louis is being honest:  _ Harry sucks.  _ He runs so terribly slow even though he has long legs.  _ Thank Jesus no one passed to him.  _ Coach should’ve kept Harry out the whole game, but there was a rule that each player needed to have at least 5 minutes of play time. The game was tied, 2-2 and there was 4 minutes left on the clock. Louis sighs. The game couldn’t end up tied because it was a championship game so, they would be here a little while longer. 

 

The game goes by slowly to Louis but finally, there is 1 minute left. The team will most likely go into overtime. Louis looks down at his phone, too bored to watch the rest of the game. 

 

Until, Leigh-Anne starts shaking Louis’ arm.

 

“Louis! Louis!” she exclaims pointing to field.

 

Harry is running down the field dribbling the ball. There’s 14 seconds left. 13, 12, 11, 10, 9  _ oh my god. _

 

Harry kicks the ball with the side of his foot. The ball flies past the goalie and hits the back of the net. He scored. 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. St. Anne wins the game.

 

“What the fuck!” Leigh-Anne exclaims jumping up and down. Louis joins her.

 

“We won! We won!” he chants.

 

“Louis Tomlinson, number 28 scores with 5 seconds to spare,” “Saint Anne wins the county cup!” the announcer says. 

 

“That’s Harry Styles out there!” Louis yells at the announcer correcting him.

 

“Harry Styles, number 28 scores with 5 seconds to spare,”.

 

Louis runs down the bleachers and hops over the small fence to greet his team. They all tackle Harry and Louis joins in. He can hear Harry giggling at the bottom of the pile. Each team member slowly gets up, high fiving each other and hugging.

 

Louis helps Harry up and hugs him. A big hug. A real hug. 

 

“Great job mate!” he exclaims squeezing his sweaty body tighter.

 

“That was so scary!” Harry chuckles into Louis’ hair. Louis tears himself from Harry and starts congratulating the rest of the team. 

 

He chest bumps Niall causing him to fall down and the whole team laughs.

 

Harry twirls around by himself, waving to the fans in the crowd like he was some popstar finishing his first show.

 

Harry returns to the group to high five everyone until he gets to Luke. He gives Luke a hug.  _ A hug.  _ Then they walk of the pitch together.  _ They’re walking off the pitch together.  _

 

Louis chases after them and slings his arm around Harry’s shoulder.

 

“Hey Luke!” “Wasn’t my baby great out there today?”  _ Baby. Doesn’t have a nice ring to it. We need to work on that.  _

 

“Oh um, yeah, he was great,” Luke stutters to get an answer out.

 

“Louis, I was thinking of going home with Luke today. I kinda need to talk to him,” Harry says looking at his feet.

 

“Can’t be that important to miss post-game dinner!” Louis exclaims caressing Harry’s cheek. Harry escapes his grip.  _ What the fuck? _

 

“Louis, I’m serious, I have to talk with him,” Harry says with no amusement in his voice.

 

“Okay whatever,” Louis gives in. “You better come to my house tonight though,” Louis says walking away without saying goodbye.

 

“He’s a bit clingy, yeah?” Louis hears Luke say. Louis chooses to ignore it.

 

“Extremely,” Harry says from behind Louis.

 

Louis walks (stomps) back to Leigh-Anne.

 

“That dick!” he exclaims climbing back over the fence to get to Leigh-Anne in the stands.

 

“Luke?” she asks gathering her belongings.

 

“No! Harry’s the dick,” he tells her picking up his coat. “He’s going to fuck Luke again tonight even though our conditions were that he had to stop that!”. He follows Leigh-Anne into the parking lot to meet Niall.

 

“Are you sure that’s what they’re doing?” Leigh-Anne asks pulling out her car keys. 

 

“Yes! He’s going to Luke’s house right now!” “Ugh! I hate him! Why did I do this to myself?” he grunts walking to the car.

 

Niall was already there leaning his sweaty body against the vehicle.

 

“Niall! Get your sweaty arse off my car!” Leigh-Anne exclaims stomping over to him. Niall gets off and runs to Leigh-Anne giving her a huge hug.

 

“Ew, ew, ew, you’re sweaty!” she says trying to force him off. Niall doesn’t let go.

 

“I love you Leigh-Leigh,” Niall jokes squeezing her tighter making sure she can smell his stinky post-game scent. Leigh-Anne is giggling a bit now. 

 

Louis can’t stop laughing.  _ They are totally in love.  _

 

He finally gets Harry and Luke out of his thoughts for a bit. 

 

…

 

**10pm December 15th**

 

The doorbell rings and Louis is confused to why anyone would be coming over at this time at night. He can’t answer the door because he’s in his bedroom, about to sleep in only football shorts and his glasses.  _ Mum will answer it.  _ His mother does answer it. She hears her voice and someone else's voice downstairs. Probably some stranger who needs directions. Suddenly Louis hears footsteps coming up the stairs. Then someone opens his door. It’s Harry. 

 

“Geez!” he brings the comforter to cover his bare chest. “Don’t you knock?”

 

“Oh, sorry, I thought you were expecting me,” Harry says still standing in the doorway. 

 

“Why would you think I was expecting you?” Louis asks standing up to go find a shirt. He definitely feels Harry’s eyes on him.

 

“You said to come to your house tonight when I was talking to Luke,” Harry says as he slowly enters the room.

 

“I only said that to let Luke know that we were dating,” “I wasn’t serious,” Louis laughs.

 

There’s silence after that. Louis looks around for a shirt. He still feels Harry’s eyes on him.

 

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” Louis says jokingly. Harry’s head looks down and his cheeks are red.

 

Louis finally finds a t-shirt and he puts it on.

 

“You can look up now,” Louis says hopping back on his bed.

 

Harry looks up but doesn’t move.

 

“So, are you just gonna stand there?” Louis asks.

 

“Oh sorry!” Harry says moving towards the bed. He hesitates to sit.

 

“You can sit,” Louis says. Harry lowers himself down to the edge of the bed.

 

“So, was Luke a good smash tonight?” “Was it worth it exposing us?” Louis questions not so nicely.

 

“What?” Harry asks turning towards Louis.

 

“I’m not stupid!” “I know you hooked up with Luke tonight,” Louis sits up straight. “I told you that you couldn’t sleep with anyone during the election!”

 

“I didn’t sleep with Luke tonight!” Harry stands up offended by the accusation. 

 

“Then why did you go to his house and why were you there for-” Louis checks his alarm clock. “4 hours?!”

 

“It’s complicated,” Harry says lowering his voice.

 

“Oh yeah so complicated,” “Why can’t you do what I ask of you?” “It’s simple: don’t sleep with anyone until February! It really isn’t that difficult,” Louis says crossing his arms over his chest.

 

“I didn’t sleep with him, Louis!”

 

“Oh then what did you do?” “Huh?” “Give him a quick blowie?” “Don’t do anything with any guys as long as you’re with me alright?”.

 

“Louis!” “I’m telling you the truth,” he starts taking a deep breath. “I did nothing with him!”. 

 

Louis doesn’t believe him. But he pretends to.

 

“Not today you haven’t,” Louis says.

 

“What- how do you know?” 

 

“You are quite loud in bed and I saw him leaving last week,” Louis says standing up to get some water.

 

“Why are you bringing up something before we were fake dating?” “It isn’t relevant,” Harry barks.

 

“Because…” Louis takes a drink of his water. “If you break any of my rules, I’m going to expose what you and Luke were doing together,”. He didn’t really plan on doing that. He just wanted to scare Harry.

 

“You would really out a friend?” “You’re sick,” Harry says disgusted. “You do know that if you out him, he’ll hate me forever,”.

 

“Aw, you’re catching on. Smart boy,” Louis says smiling.

 

“You are truly evil, Tomlinson,” Harry growled lowly.

 

“I know!” Louis says guiding Harry to the door. “You can leave now babe! Bye!” he chimes, literally shoving Harry out the door. He slams it after he’s gone. 

 

Louis had no intentions of outing Luke. That would be cruel. He just wanted to make sure Harry doesn’t have another one of these slip ups.

 

…

 

**leigh-anne sucks**

 

_ Leigh: you are such a dick _

_ Louis: ik _

_ Niall: mate, that was bad. H probably thinks worse of u now _

_ Louis: ik _

_ Leigh: louis… _ _   
_ _ Leigh: that was mean. U dont even know for sure if they actually hooked up _

_ Louis: they deffo hooked up, i know harry _

_ Leigh: you havent known harry for 5 years _

 

Louis doesn’t respond to that because he knows that Leigh-Anne is right. In all honesty, Louis really doesn’t know if Harry and Luke hooked up tonight. 

 

**leigh-anne sucks**

 

_ Leigh: louis _

_ Leigh: plz apologise to him _

 

Louis sighs. He does feel a bit like a dick.  _ Why have I been feeling so guilty lately?  _ Louis looks through his contacts to find Harry’s number which he only used to text him that one time at the mall.

 

_ Louis: hey harry im sorry for threatening u _

_ Harry: who is this? _

_ Louis: u have more than one person threatening you ? _

_ Harry: louis? _

_ Louis: no shit _

_ Harry: oh hi _

_ Louis: if u weren’t paying attention, i said i was sorry _

_ Harry: i saw _

_ Louis: ur supposed to forgive me now… _

_ Harry: eh ;) _

 

Louis grunts as he slams his phone into the bed. Harry was impossible. 

 

**leigh-anne sucks**

 

_ Louis: UGHH I HATE HIM _

_ Louis: I TRIED TO APOLOGISE AND HE DIDNT FORGIVE ME _

_ Louis: I _

_ Louis: HATE _

 

Louis is interrupted from his rant when he gets a message.

 

_ Harry: Just kidding. You’re forgiven, Louis. I promise I’ll talk to you on Sunday about me and Luke.  _

_ Harry: goodnight!  _

 

Louis falls back into his bed.

 

**leigh-anne sucks**

 

_ Louis: nevermind. he forgave me _

_ Leigh: :))))))) _

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The mentions of bipolar disorder were not meant as an insult. I did not intend to offend anyone with the comment. :)

**10am December 17th**

 

Harry didn’t put nearly as much time into his appearance as he did from the last study session. Louis wasn’t worth the effort. Louis had texted Harry saying that he would be coming early so they could discuss their plans as “boyfriends” for this week. Louis’ birthday was in a week and Harry expects that there will be a party. That’s probably what Louis wanted to talk about. That also meant that since he was “friends” again with Louis, he would have to get him a gift. Don’t get him wrong, he loves getting gifts for people. It’s just that, he hadn’t given Louis a present in years.  _ What does he even like now?  _ Surely he isn’t a too fond of power ranger action figures or skateboard stickers. Harry intended to find out what the perfect gift for Louis Tomlinson would be. 

 

The doorbell rings.  _ Let’s do this. _

 

Louis stands at the door with a small smile on his face. He had his glasses on again and he wore plaid pajama pants and a grey henley. He looks like he had just rollen out of bed. He also looked extremely tired. Harry lets him in.

 

“Um, Louis, are you okay?” Harry asks examining the bags under Louis’ eyes.

 

“Eh, could be better, I might be a bit sick.” he says walking passed Harry to the kitchen. Harry follows. He suddenly feels bad for Louis and for some weird reason, wants to help him.

 

“If you don’t feel well enough to study today we don’t have-”

 

“I’m not dying, Harold.” Louis laughs sitting down. Harry nods and brings Louis the tea he premade for him.

 

Louis’ raises his eyebrows surprised that Harry actually took time to make him tea.

 

“Thanks,” he accepts the mug. “Ok, so, we can work on limits today,” Louis takes a sip. “They aren’t too difficult.”

 

“Actually, Louis, I was thinking we should skip the studying today and discuss what we’re planning for this week considering it’s your birthday next Sunday,” Harry sits in the chair in front of Louis with his own mug.

 

“Oh, ok,” Louis sits up straight. “Well, Niall said that we don’t look much like a couple,” Louis starts looking at his hands. “He said that we look like good mates rather than boyfriends.”

 

“Ah, good mates,” “It’s a start.” Harry jokes. Louis nods smiling.

 

“So, we’re going to work on being more affectionate in public,” Louis takes a small pause. “Especially in front of GSA members.”

 

Harry agrees. “By affectionate, you mean…”

 

“I don’t know, kissing, hugging, stuff like that.”

 

“Kissing?” Harry asks his face feeling warmer.

 

“Yeah, but if kissing is a problem we can like-not do it.” Louis says awkwardly.

 

Harry rapidly shakes his head. “No, no, no. It isn’t a problem don’t worry.” 

 

Louis smiles. “Okay, good, we’re gonna have to practice a bit though because we can’t make it look like we don’t know what we’re doing, ya know?”

 

_ Don’t blush Harry. Do not blush. _

 

Harry bites his lip. “Yeah, I get it.”

 

_ Change the subject. Please change the subject. _

 

“So, Harry,” Louis starts, finishing off his tea. “You promised you would tell me about you and Luke.” 

 

_ Oh yeah.  _ Harry totally forgot that he told Louis he would tell him about him and Luke.

 

“Ok I’ll tell you about me and Luke,” Harry begins. “There is absolutely nothing going on between me and Luke anymore.” he states. “We hooked up about 4 times because he wanted to make sure he was actually gay,” he takes a deep breath. “He’s actually gay,” “I went to his house Friday to convince him to come out, I didn’t wanna force him or anything, obviously. He said he wasn’t ready and I respected that. I let him know that we had to end what it was that we had because I was dating you,”. “That’s all that happened on Friday.”

 

Harry notices the embarrassment in Louis’ eyes.

 

“Oh,” is all Louis says. “M’ sorry for accusing you,” he continues, his voice low. “And I’m sorry about saying that I would expose you and Luke, I was just worried that our plan would be ruined.”

 

“It’s alright, Louis, I know you didn’t m-”

 

Harry is cut off by his extremely loud ringtone,  _ Sing _ by Ed Sheeran, ringing from his pocket. He gives an apologetic look to Louis when he pulls his phone out to see who ruined his moment with Louis. It’s Liam. He sees Louis giving him an odd smile. 

 

“Put ‘im on speaker,” Louis says. 

 

Harry answers and presses the speaker button.

 

“Yes, Liam?” Harry says into the phone.

 

“Mate! Zayn had this awesome idea to throw a surprise party for Louis on Saturday,” Liam says through the phone. Louis almost dies of laughter. He covers his mouth so no noise would come out.

 

Harry tries to hide his laugh as he continues to talk to Liam. 

 

“Um, yeah, that’s a great idea,” he laughs trying to hold back his tears.

 

“Awesome! On Saturday just tell ‘im something like ‘oh, Zayn needs math help on Saturday’ or something dumb like that.” Liam says.

 

“Ok, got it,” Harry says letting a small chuckle slip out.

 

“Cool, cool. We’ll talk more bout it later, yeah?”

 

“Yep!” Harry chirps.

 

“K, bye.” Liam says through the phone.

 

“Bye!” Harry says and quickly hangs up the phone so Louis and Harry can let their laughter out.

 

“So, Louis, Zayn needs some math help on Saturday,” Harry jokes through his giggles causing Louis to laugh even more.

 

“Oh! I’ll be glad to help!” he chuckles.

 

Once their laughs finally die down, Louis takes a swig from his water bottle and nods to Harry’s phone.

 

“You like Ed Sheeran?” Louis asks referring to Harry’s ringtone.

 

“Love him!” Harry says honestly. He loved Ed Sheeran. He was probably one of the best singers of the decade. “You?”.

 

“Obsessed! He’s my favorite singer, like ever.” Louis responds. Harry didn’t know this. Louis and Harry have something in common.  _ That’s a first. _

 

“I actually really wanted to go to his show at O2 in January but the tickets were a little too expensive for me.” Louis continues with a chuckle. 

 

Harry suddenly knew what he would be getting Louis for his birthday.

 

…

 

**7pm December 18th**

 

Since football season was finally over, Louis and Harry finally had more time to hang out together and talk about their “relationship”.  _ Was this a good or bad thing?  _ Louis did not know, but he was already at Harry’s front door for Day 1 of their daily meetings, so there was no going back this time.

 

“Come in,” Harry says extending his arm so Louis could walk passed. Harry was in his usual casual wear: yoga pants and a loose jumper. 

 

Instead of going to the kitchen like they usually did, they went straight to Harry’s bedroom instead. Louis immediately flopped onto the bed and spread his arms out like it was his own. Harry chuckles a bit and goes to sit on the edge of the bed. Louis sits up to face him.

 

“We need to practise,” Louis grunts stretching.

 

“Practise what?” Harry asks dumbly.

 

“Practise being affectionate, idiot,” Louis replies frustrated. He can see the small hurt on Harry’s face but he chooses to ignore it because today was not his day. He had been yelled at by his Mother for not buying his sisters their Christmas gifts yet and she refused to give him money to buy them anything. That meant that Louis would have to use his early birthday money that he had gotten from his grandparents. 

 

“Ok,” Harry scoots closer to Louis. “What should we start with?” Harry asks softly looking down.

 

Louis sighs. “We might as well start with the kissing part because we’re going to be needing to do that at my party on Saturday.”

 

“Cool…” Harry says awkwardly, still looking down.

 

Louis rolls his eyes and groans. He turns Harry’s body so that they are completely facing each other. He waits. He groans again. “Ugh! Aren’t you gonna lean in?” he asks annoyed.

 

“Oh, yeah sorry,” Harry says shaking his head.

 

Harry starts leaning in and so does Louis. Louis lets Harry’s lips press upon his for a few seconds and then he backs away. Harry’s face is red.

 

“Ok, not bad, but that was nothing,” Louis starts. “That was just two lips touching, t’wasn’t really kissing.”

 

“Oh, ok, I’ll try again,” Harry says. 

 

They both lean in again but this time, they slot their lips together instead of just keeping their lips sealed. Harry moves his lips and so does Louis. They’re getting a bit into it now. Harry pokes his tongue through his lips to enter into Louis’. Louis does the same. The kiss turns a little messier but neither of them pull apart.  _ I’m making out with Harry Styles.  _ They go at it for what seems to be a minute. Harry makes a noise from his mouth that vibrates down to Louis’ throat. Louis thinks it’s the perfect time to pull away.

 

They look at each other, glassy eyed and red lipped. They are both panting and their lips look swollen. 

 

“Um… okay, that was alright,” Louis clears his throat. “We might need to work on it a bit more though.”

 

“Yeahh, yeah,” Harry agrees. 

 

Louis nods, signaling for Harry to lean in again. They kiss the same way they did before, maybe even better. Louis doesn’t know why he feels his body heating up or why he doesn’t want to pull away. They keep going. It’s rough, but Louis likes it. It’s messy, but Louis likes it.  _ Fuck, why do I like it?  _

 

They continue to kissing, exploring each others mouths. Tasting each other. Harry is the one to break the kiss this time. He holds both of Louis’ cheeks with his large hands and looks down, panting. 

 

“Louis,” he mumbles. Louis doesn’t have a chance to respond because Harry starts kissing him again with such force that Louis is laying on his back with Harry on top of him, kissing him. They moan into each others mouth, Louis gets shivers up his spine as he deepens the kiss. They only break apart to breath. Harry's knees are on either side of Louis’ hips, hovering over him. Louis starts to think that they should stop before things go too far. He disconnected himself from Harry and sits up straight, Harry is still on top of him, practically on his lap. Harry notices this and his mouth makes an “O” shape as he gets off to sit next to him on the bed.

 

“Um, that was good,” “I think I’ll just go home now.” Louis says cutting the obvious tension in the room. He needed to get out of there. Louis seemed to be having a  _ situation.  _

 

“Yeah, cool, I’ll walk you out,” Harry says standing up. Louis nods and walks quickly down the stairs to put on his shoes, fumbling with the laces.  _ Cold shower, cold shower, cold shower, cold show- _

 

“You’re coming over tomorrow right?” Harry asks interrupting Louis from his thoughts.

 

“What? Oh-wait. Yeah, yeah, I’ll be here,” Louis finally gets his shoes on. Standing up straight by the open door.

 

“Great, um, bye Louis,” he says as Louis exits. Louis nods and leaves this house. Once he sees Harry shut the door, he sprints to his house.

 

_ Cold shower, cold shower, cold shower.  _ He walks in and hears his mother in the kitchen as he prepares to run up the stairs.

 

“Hey boobear, did you and Harry have fun?” she asks stopping him from running.

 

“Yeah, yeah, it was cool, great,” he stutters and runs to the bathroom. He definitely had a  _ situation.  _ He strips off all his clothing and gets into the freezing cold shower and tries hard not scream from cold water jets. 

 

He sighs, when his  _ situation  _ subsides.

 

_ This cannot happen again. _

 

…

 

**8pm December 19th**

 

It happens again.  

 

This time, Louis is the one that has Harry pinned down on his bed. They had been making out as soon as Louis walked through the door an hour ago. He claimed that they needed another “practising session”. Harry did not refuse. They were a lot more rough than before. They were practically eating each others faces. Louis obviously was not enjoying himself.  _ Obviously.  _

 

They were RUDELY interrupted by a vibration in Harry’s pants-no, not that. It was a text. They pulled apart so Harry could look at the message. Louis stayed on top of him. He leaned over to look at the message.

 

“Who texted?” Louis asked, eager to continue what they were doing. Harry hesitates to answer. He looks at his phone but doesn’t say anything. Louis, becoming impatient, grabs his phone from his hands and stands up.

 

It’s a text from Luke. Louis doesn’t bother reading the message, he throws the phone back on bed and towers over Harry.

 

“You dick!” Louis exclaims. 

 

Harry doesn’t respond.

 

“You’re still trying to hook up with him!” he yells, truly angry.  _ How could Harry be so incompetent? The instructions were simple: DO NOT HAVE SEX. _

 

Harry still doesn’t speak. All he does is grab his phone and opens the message for Louis to see. Louis angrily grabs the phone. He reads the text.  _ Oh. _

 

_ Luke: Hey Harry! Just wanted to let you know that I’m coming out to my family on Christmas :) _

 

“Oh,” Louis says out loud handing the phone back to Harry.

 

“You’re so fucking bipolar,” Harry mumbles putting the phone back in his pocket.

 

Louis starts getting angry.

 

“What the fuck did you just say?!” he stomps.

 

“I said,” Harry stands up. “You’re so fucking bipolar.” he states.

 

Louis is speechless. He would slap Harry right across his pretty face, but violence is never the answer (even when someone is being a gigantic twat). 

 

“One moment, you’re happy, kissing me, being actually nice to me,” “The next you’re yelling at me, calling me names like we’re fucking 13!” Harry towers over Louis.

 

“Ugh, you’re so difficult,” Louis paces around the room.

 

“Oh, I’m difficult? You’re literally the one who has 14 different personalities!”

 

“Shut up Harry, you know you’re difficult,” “Probably explains why you can’t keep a boyfriend.” Louis stomps over to him so they’re face to face.

 

“Shut the fuck up, Louis,” he growls.

 

“Make me shut up, Harry.”

 

With that, Harry grabs Louis’ hips closer to him, gets ahold of the back of his head and brings him into a forceful kiss. It’s an angry kiss for sure.  _ A hate kiss.  _ Louis feels something in his jeans.  _ No, no, no. Not right now.  _ Harry doesn’t disconnect their lips until he pins Louis to the bed. He starts grinding on top of him. This is not helping Louis’ pants issue. Harry notices Louis’  _ issue.  _ Harry moves his hand from Louis chest down Louis’ waistband. He grins up at Louis.  _ That stupid smile.  _

 

“I fucking hate you.” Louis states looking at where Harry’s hand was.

 

“I know,” is all Harry says as he unbuttons Louis’ tight jeans and rolls them off his legs. 

 

Louis is left in his briefs. His tight briefs. Harry starts rubbing Louis’ clothed hard on. Louis whimpers in response.  _ Shit, shit, shit, fuck, fuck, fuck. _

 

Harry scoots himself lower to Louis’ legs. He tugs at the waistband of Louis’ briefs and tilts his head to Louis’ face, asking for permission.  _ Say no.  _

 

“Yes.” Louis says already gripping on to Harry’s hair. Harry smiles and ducks his head down. He slides Louis’ briefs off. He is painfully hard.  _ How embarrassing.  _ Harry chuckles and Louis rolls his eyes.  _ Dumb wanker.  _ Harry takes Louis into his mouth.  _ A hate blow job.  _ Louis shudders. His mouth already making an “o” face. Harry twists his hands around the shafts and tugs as his mouth does its work.  _ It feels good.  _ Louis can’t force himself to hate it because he loves it. He  _ fucking _ loves it. Harry licks the underside all the way to the tip and starts sucking. Louis feels Harry smiling on him. Louis opens his tightly shut eyes to look.  _ Oh my god.  _ It was beautiful. Louis moans and Harry does as well, his mouth sending shivers though Louis’ whole body. Louis feels that this was about the end soon, judging by the warmth in his stomach. 

 

“Harry,” he warns.

 

Harry nods but keeps his mouth on Louis. In only a few seconds, Louis releases into Harry. Harry licks the rest away and swallows.  _ What the fuck just happened? And why did it happen so fast? _

 

Louis sits there, motionless, half naked on Harry’s bed. Harry passes him his briefs and jeans and he slips them both on in silence. After a long struggle with buttoning his jeans back up, he finally stands.

 

“I’m gonna head home,” Louis says awkwardly.

 

“Um, yeah, you should, um… do that,” Harry says snapping out of his thoughts. 

 

Louis nods and walks down the stairs and leads himself out. 

 

_ That just happened.  _

 

…

 

**12pm December 20th**

 

Harry is not at lunch. They haven’t spoke since what happened the night before. Louis didn’t know what to say. He was just in shock and was still processing what Harry did to him. Niall and Leigh-Anne are having a conversation and Louis can’t focus on what they’re saying. 

 

“Mate, where’s Harry?” Niall whispers to Louis.

 

“M’ not sure,” Louis responds.

 

“Did ya hang out with him last night?” Niall asked.

 

_ Yes Niall and he gave me a blowjob after he called me bipolar and I enjoyed it very much. _

 

“I did.” Louis simply says.

 

“Well did ya do anything to upset him?” 

 

_ Yes I left him in his bedroom after said blowjob. _

 

“Not really. I don’t think so.” Louis says playing with his food with his fork. Louis hadn’t told Niall about kissing Harry, twice, or the blow job and he didn’t plan to. Leigh-Anne was a different story. She always had a way of getting things out of him.

 

“Louis, can you come with me to the vending machine?” Leigh-Anne asks already standing up. 

 

Louis immediately stands up and follows Leigh-Anne, leaving a confused Niall sitting at the table. 

 

“Bring me Cheetos!” Niall calls after them.

 

“Ok what did you do to him?” Leigh-Anne asks once they are clear of the table.

 

“What do you mean?” Louis asks dumbly. Leigh-Anne slaps his arm.

 

“Ouch,” he rubs his arm.

 

“What did you do to him?” she repeats seriously.

 

“Well  _ I  _ didn’t do anything to him,” he starts. Leigh-Anne gives a confused look. “Ok, he gave me head.” Louis blurts out.

 

“He gave you-” Louis quickly puts his hand over Leigh-Anne’s mouth before she can say anymore.

 

“H-How did this happen?” she asks trying to process the information she was given. 

 

“On Monday, I went to his house so we could practise being affectionate,” Louis explains. Leigh-Anne nods signaling that he should continue. “So we practised kissing,” “We started off with a peck and then it got a little heated,” Louis says lowly. “Then, yesterday, I wanted to practise again, we did. Then Harry got a text from Luke and I got mad and he showed me that the text was something irrelevant and then he called me bipolar. So, I got super mad and and we started yelling back and forth and he ended up giving me an angry blowie.” Louis finishes out of breath.

 

Leigh-Anne stands there, stunned. “Okay.” she just says. 

 

“Aren’t you surprised? Disappointed? Shocked?” Louis asks confused.

 

“Why would I be disappointed?” she asks.

 

“Because this wasn’t supposed to happen. We were only supposed to pretend we had sex, not actually have it!” Louis responds frustrated.

 

“First of all, that wasn’t sex. Second of all, I think you’re disappointed in yourself for falling under Harry’s spell,” she says pointing at his chest.

 

“I did not fall under Harry’s  _ spell,” _ Louis scoffs. “I was just a horny teenager. I have needs.” Louis stomps his foot. 

 

Leigh-Anne laughs. “Alriiiight.”

 

“So you think he skipped school because of what happened between you two last night?” she asks.

 

“Maybe,” “I just- I don’t know what to say to him.” Louis states.

 

Leigh-Anne nods as if she understands.

 

“You should go see him today, just don’t mention it and hopefully everything will be alright,” she says patting his back as they walk back to the table. Louis nods.

 

“Oi, where’s me cheetos?” Niall asks, angry.

 

Leigh-Anne and Louis erupt in giggles. 

 

…

 

**5pm December 20th**

 

Louis stands at Harry’s door and rings the bell a 5th time.  _ Harry really is mad.  _ He rings it a 6th time. No response. Louis should’ve remembered how sensitive Harry was. He left without properly saying goodbye. Louis knew how important goodbyes were to Harry. Harry would always cry about how his father left them without saying goodbye. Louis left him without saying goodbye. Twice. Louis is about to give up and run back to the warmth of his own house when he hears noises from Harry’s backyard.  _ Harry is home.  _ Louis jogs, high knees, through the snow to get to Harry’s backyard. There Harry is, sitting on the swing of his childhood playset.  _ Oh the memories.  _ It’s where Louis had his first kiss. His first kiss happened to be Harry.

 

Louis remembered that day like it was yesterday.

 

_ He was 14, Harry was 13. Louis had come back from footie practice and found Harry sitting alone on the swing. _

 

_ “Hazza, why d’ya look so down?” Louis had asked, sitting in the swing next to him. Harry had been crying. _

 

_ “Oh, no did someone hurt you?” Louis questioned looking at Harry for bruises. Harry shook his head. “Then what is it?”  _

 

_ Harry sniffled and looked up at Louis. “Lou…” he started but stopped. _

 

_ “C’mon get it out,” Louis pressed. _

 

_ “I like boys!” Harry cried. Louis was taken back but didn’t leave the swing.  _

 

_ “But I also like girls,” Harry continued. “I think.” _

 

_ Louis put a reassuring hand on Harry’s back.  _

 

_ They both looked at each other in the eyes. Louis wiped a tear off of Harry’s cheek. He didn’t know why he did, but he leaned in and gave a light kiss to Harry’s lips. Both of their faces turned red. Louis didn’t know what to do. He was shocked that he even did that. All Louis did was get up and run back home without looking back.  _

 

That was the last interaction Louis and Harry had for almost 5 years.

 

Louis seeing Harry on the swingset brought back the last memory he had of them. He walked carefully through the snow and sat on the swing next to Harry.  _ Just like last time.  _ He looked over to see tears on Harry’s face.  _ Just like last time.  _ But this time, Louis wouldn’t be leaving.

 

“Harry, what’s wrong?” he asks looking at Harry’s soaked face. He hoped that he hadn’t been crying about what him and Louis did. Harry takes a deep breath and wipes his own tears not letting Louis wipe them for him.

 

“My Mum isn’t coming for Christmas,” he begins. Louis breathes a sigh of relief that this wasn’t about him but he lets Harry continue. “She’s snowed in and can’t leave Berkshire. Gemma is gonna spend Christmas with her because it’s a short commute but I can’t go because of the fucking blizzard.” he says covering his face, crying quietly a bit more. “I’m spending Christmas alone.”

 

“Harry… I’m so sorry,” It was funny how they had been arguing each other less than 24 hours ago and now he is comforting the boy he claims to hate. He thought about maybe putting an arm around him.  _ Should I? Fuck it. _

 

Louis gets off the swing, and wraps his arms around Harry and hugs him. Harry wraps his arms around Louis in return. Louis is sort of in an uncomfortable situation because he was standing up and Harry was sitting down but Louis doesn't move until Harry stopped sniffling.

 

Once he did, they both stood up, Louis cracks his back.  _ Finally.  _ Harry leads him into the house. He still looks upset. Louis hated seeing people upset. That was the thing about Louis. He liked to make people happy. 

 

“You can spend Christmas with my family!” Louis blurts out not thinking.  _ Did I really say that?  _ Harry starts smiling.

 

“Wait, Louis you don’t have-”

 

“I want to, Harry,” Louis says not taking no for an answer. Louis could not stand looking at sad people. It made him sad. Harry’s smiling wider and he walks up to Louis and squeezes him tight.

 

“Thank you so much Louis,” he says into Louis’ hair. 

 

They stand like that for a whole minute until Louis clears his voice. Harry removes his arms. 

 

“Sorry, I’m just really happy,” Harry smiles again.  _ I like when you’re happy.  _

 

“Well, mate, I don’t like seeing people upset, so I’m glad that you’re happy,” Louis smiles back. Harry blushes.

 

“Oi, haven’t helped you with math in a while, let’s study a bit,” Louis suggests not wanting to leave. 

 

“Sure!” Harry’s smile remains and he skips up the stairs. 

 

Louis laughs as he follows him.

 

_ What did I just do? _

 

…

 

**6pm December 21st**

 

Louis had to skip out on the daily practises with Harry because tomorrow there would be another candidate conference. They would be speaking in front of all of SGA. Louis knew that GSA members would also be present so that meant that Harry would have to be there as well. Today, Leigh-Anne and Louis were planning their joint speech because they were running as a team. Leigh-Anne had said “If one of us doesn’t get elected, neither of us do,”. Louis agreed to this because there was no way that he would still want to be president if Stella or Sophia or whatever her name was, won VP. The debate tomorrow didn’t make Louis nervous.  _ Not one bit. Not at all. _

 

“Please, please, please,” Leigh-Anne got on her knees begging. She wanted Louis to wear a suit. A full suit. Louis refused because:

 

  1. He would look like a douche walking around school with a suit on.
  2. Suits made his arse look HUGE



 

“No.” Louis shook his head.

 

“Say yes or I’ll start crying,” Leigh-Anne threatened.

 

“Aw don’t make her cry, mate,” Niall chimed in. 

 

Leigh-Anne starts sniffling. 

 

“Are you actually crying?!” Louis exclaims. 

 

Leigh-Anne nods, wiping her tears.  _ Shit, she knows his weakness.  _

 

Louis gives in. “Fine! I’ll wear the damn suit!”

 

Leigh-Anne jumps up, her tears instantly gone.  _ That little faker. _

 

“Yay! Thank you, Lou!” she jumps around.

 

Louis rolls his eyes and falls back on the couch next to Niall.

 

“She’s really good at convincing mate, you shoulda known,” Niall laughs.

 

“You can’t just cry to get what you want,” Louis giggles.

 

“It worked d’innit,” Leigh-Anne sits next Niall.

 

“Oh wait, lemme try,” Niall turns to Leigh-Anne and starts fake crying. “Leigh-Anne,” he fake sniffles. Louis bursts out laughing, Leigh-Anne rolls her eyes. “Let me take you out to dinner,” Niall cries. Louis can’t stop laughing. Leigh-Anne giggles.

 

“Leigh, you gotta go, you can’t just let ‘im cry!” Louis says gripping his stomach.

 

Niall gives Leigh-Anne and pout and puppy dog eyes. “Please, Leigh-Anne, I’ll be so sad, if you say no,” he wipes the imaginary tears from his eyes. Leigh-Anne chuckles and Niall follows. 

 

“Really, I’ll take you somewhere nice,” Niall says normally. Leigh-Anne starts hesitating.

 

“Say yes!” Louis whisper yells to Leigh-Anne. She rolls her eyes at him and sighs, facing Niall.

 

“Fine, take me on a date,” she says. Niall and Louis hop off the couch and chest bump. They both get on either side of Leigh-Anne and squish her in the middle of a threeway hug. 

 

She groans underneath them. 

 

“I hate you two!” she exclaims, her voice muffled. 

 

“We know!” Niall and Louis say in unison.

 

…

 

**1:55pm December 22nd**

 

He wore the stupid suit, per Leigh-Anne’s request. He had worn the navy blue suit to his mother's wedding two years ago and it still fit. He wore a white button up underneath. He was overdressed. He figured this out when he noticed that the competing vice president had worn a simple black nike crew neck jumper and light blue skinny jeans. She paired the ensemble with fake Uggs but Louis decided not to comment about that out loud. Leigh-Anne was overdressed as well in her navy bodycon, long sleeved, midi dress that she had paired with a diamond necklace around her neck and a matching bracelet on her thin wrist. She obviously didn’t mind because she asked the librarian to take several photos of them together. She was proud of how well their outfits coordinated and how it was “extremely necessary” to post photos of themselves on Instagram. 

 

The library had been rearranged so that there were 6 rows of 10 on each side of the aisle. All the candidates sat in the front of the room facing the rows with a large podium lining up with the center aisle and two smaller podiums on either side. Basically how the conference would go was: One person from the crowd (usually a student who cared way too much about school) would stand up, ask a question, and both candidates would give an answer, possibly debate (if needed). Louis knew that there would most definitely be a debate, considering that he’s running against the biggest twat in the whole school. There would be more than one disagreement between the two, that was for sure. Nick wasn’t even on time anyways, the conference was supposed to start in less than 5 minutes. In Nick’s defence, the crowd wasn’t present either, with exception of GSA and SGA (punctuality was important for them). He sees Perrie in the front row, Jade by her side. They are whispering while looking at Louis. He KNOWS that they are speaking about him. They couldn’t be anymore obvious. Jesy also voluntarily came to the conference. She had already been elected Treasurer because no one else cared enough to run. She came for “emotional support” as she said it. But even Louis knew that she came so she could miss Mr. Cowells class. Even though she was elected, she still needed to complete the course. She would be free from Mr. Cowell in February once the first semester ended. Louis would hopefully be free from him in February too, that is, if he wins. 

 

Harry enters the library with Nick Grimshaw by his side.  _ NICK! _

 

“Why is Harry walking with Nick?” Louis angrily whispers to Leigh-Anne and she shrugs.  _ And why is he smiling?  _

 

Harry laughs at a joke Nick tells and Nick laughs along.  _ Twats.  _

 

Louis turns his head so he could roll his eyes without the forming audience seeing. 

 

Nick gives Harry a quick pat on the back and Harry sits in the front row next to Perrie.  _ Smart lad. _

 

Nick gives Louis a wink before he sits in his seat next to the other vice president candidate who Louis learns name is Sasha. He is wearing a dress shirt that was almost sheer and unbuttoned halfway like Harry always did. He wore plaid green and red pants.  _ He looks like a Christmas table cloth.  _ Louis glares back at Nick and turns his focus back on to the audience when the moderator, Andrew, steps up the podium. Andrew was fit.  _ Bloody attractive.  _ Everyone knew it too. He had light brown hair that swooped to the right side and had blue-green eyes that caught EVERYONE'S attention. He was the speaker for the year 12 sub-government and was the leader of Bible Study. He was every parents dream boy. Louis had a massive crush on him the previous year even though the bloke was two years younger. Louis tried flirting with him in his gym class but he later found out that he was straight.  _ So he says.  _ Louis couldn’t help but give the younger lad a wink when he went up to the podium. He blushed in response.

 

Leigh-Anne clears her throat and gives Louis a “you better stop” look after she sees this. Louis lets out a silent chuckle. 

 

“Hello everyone, my name is Andrew Matthews and I will be moderating this conference,” he starts. He begins to to speaking about something that clearly isn’t important enough to listen to because he was too busy staring at Andrew’s backside.  _ What an arse!  _

 

Leigh-Anne notices and playfully slaps Louis’ face making them both laugh, causing some glares from the audience, including Perrie. Louis gaines his composer back and tries to look interested in what Andrew was saying. 

 

“...Now, let me introduce your student government candidates for the second semester!” he says, all the candidates rise and walk to their designated podium. Leigh-Anne and Louis on the right and Nick and Sasha on the left. 

 

“To my right we have, Mr. Louis Tomlinson running for president of the student body, and we also have, Leigh-Anne Pinnock running for vice president.” he states as the audience claps. Louis spots Harry in the front row and gives him a wink, causing him to blush just like Andrew. Louis and Leigh-Anne return to their seats as Andrew introduces Nick.

 

“We have Nicholas Grimshaw running for president and we have Miss Sasha Maringlo running for vice president. The audience gives there final applause as Nick and Sasha sit down.    
  


“Before we allow questions from the audience, I will ask a question on behalf of the Student Government Association for our candidates if I may.” he says moving away from the large podium so the library assistants can turn it around so he would be facing the candidates instead of the audience. Louis would definitely miss staring at his ass. 

 

Both teams walk to their podiums. The president and vice president both had to share a mic so their positions were awkward, mainly because the podium was made for one person only. 

 

Andrew clears his throat. “St.Anne has been having trouble with diversity in sports, whether it be race, grade, or sexuality, most of our sports teams have been lacking variety over the past few years. How would you combat this issue?” “I will have Mr. Tomlinson answer this question first.” Andrew says all in one breath. 

 

Louis stands tall and faces the crowd with his whole body, Leigh-Anne steps back. In all honesty, the vice president candidates didn’t have a reason to be there because they wouldn’t be speaking. Leigh-Anne had decided that she would give Louis’ closing speech for him because she didn’t want to waste her time there.

 

“Diversity in our sports are very important because it sets an example for other schools. We can’t exclude players who are gay or transgender or foreign or too young or whatever. We are one school and every athlete should be accepting of any student at St.Anne. If not, this player, shall be removed from the sport because that is not what our school is about. I understand that there are awful people like this who walk among us everyday. I will combat this issue by making sure that the whole school knows when there are tryouts for our athletic teams. I have played football here for 5 years-” Louis hears Nick chuckle behind him. He ignores it and takes a deep breath. “I have played football here for 5 years, and the only reason I knew about when the upcoming tryouts were was because I had friends on the team. Sports are not advertised enough and that’s why they are lacking diversity. The same people tryout every single year, then, their siblings tryout. That’s it! That’s why everyone on our team looks this same! We need to make sure that the whole student body knows that our athletic teams are not just for families, it’s for the whole school.” Louis finishes taking a deep breath. He knew it wasn’t strong or professional sounding enough, but that was the basis of his campaign: lack of perfection. The audience claps and Louis sees Perrie smile.  _ Success. _

 

Andrew nods and tilts face to the mic. “Mr. Grimshaw,” he nods his head towards Nick. 

 

Louis completely blocks out what Nick says and he knows he isn’t missing anything important because the audience doesn’t react as much when Nick is speaking. Louis finally realizes that Nick has finished when he hears the applause. 

 

“Now we will be taking questions from the audience,” Andrew says moving away from the podium so someone could ask a question. 

 

A short girl with long bleach blonde hair came up to the podium. Louis smiled because she sort of reminded him of his younger sister, Lottie. She smiled back, obviously nervous.

 

“Hello, my name is Anna, I’m in year 10 and I am asking on behalf of the Year 10 Class Council, do you believe that homosexual sex ed should be provided in our health classes?” she asks in her high-pitched voice. Andrew motions for Louis to answer first.

 

“I believe that we should provide homosexual sex ed in our health classes. There may not be many homosexuals in our school, but we should let those who are know how to prevent themselves from diseases and infections. The homosexual students are supposed to be treated as the heterosexual students are, so they should be given the right to learn about safe sex as well.” he concludes, confident in his answer. The audience applauds. Nick doesn’t even wait for Andrews signal to chime in.   
  


“I, as a homosexual, don’t believe that we should provide LGBT sexual education in our health classes.” Nick states. The audience gives him a confused look and he continues on. “Honestly, in my opinion, there is no need for sex ed at all! It is really common sense, wear a condom, prevent disease!” Nick says, chuckling. The audience laughs along with him.  _ Including GSA. _

 

Louis is visibly annoyed so, he speaks up. This is a debate after all.

 

“Excuse me Nicholas, but it isn’t as easy as saying ‘Wear a condom!’” Louis says turning his body to Nick.

 

“Actually it is,  _ Lewis,”  _ Nick turns to face Louis. Louis shoots him a glare. He turns back to face the crowd. “Is it so hard for people to understand that condoms were meant to prevent diseases?” he asks throwing his arms up.

 

“Some people don’t wear condoms though,” Louis says into the mic.

 

“Well, Mr. Tomlinson, I’m not sure why some people don’t use the resources available to them,” “Those people are just stupid for not protecting themselves.”

 

“How would they know to protect themselves if they don’t know about diseases!” Louis fires back, angry.

 

“A quick internet search can tell them what they need to know, we don’t need teachers to waste their breath talking about something that everyone should already know. As I said before, it’s just common sense!” 

 

Perrie and the rest of GSA provide no reaction. 

 

“Nick, just because you know about diseases doesn’t mean that everyone knows about them!” Louis exclaims.

 

“Do you know what AIDS are?” Nick asks Louis.

 

“Yes , but why is the relev-”

 

“Did your health class talk about LGBT sex?” Nick asks leaning against the podium.

 

“No, but-”

 

“This just proves my point, we don’t need to talk about homosexual sex because it is already known, have sex without protection, you’ll get a disease, simple. If you have multiple partners, you’ll get a disease, simple.” Nick finishes crossing his arms.

 

Louis sees Harry shifting uncomfortably in his seat. Louis doesn’t have a response. 

 

Andrew stands up and goes to the mic, “Ok, next question.” he says as the next girl walks to the podium. Louis can’t contain the anger boiling inside.

 

…

 

They answer about 6 more questions and don’t have another debate. Leigh-Anne was currently giving their closing speech, but Louis didn’t bother listening. He was still angry about how Nick made Louis look stupid. He was also angry at how his “boyfriend” came in walking with the competition.  _ Does he think this is some kind of joke?  _ Louis sits and glares between Nick and Harry for the duration of Leigh-Anne’s speech. Neither of them notice because they were focused on what Leigh-Anne was saying. 

 

Leigh-Anne finishes and Louis gives her an exaggerated applause making his presence known. Leigh-Anne gives him a confused look as she sits down. He continues clapping even when she’s already seated. The louder he clapped, the longer Nick would have to wait to start his closing speech. Leigh-Anne swats Louis’ hands down when she notices that he is the only person clapping after a while. Louis lowers his hands embarrassed and tries to block out every word that Nick says.  _ That stupid twat, dick, cunt, bitch-.  _ Louis couldn’t even express his anger in his own thoughts. He  _ had  _ to win this. He couldn’t let  _ that shit  _ become president. 

 

…

 

Louis exits the library standing close to Leigh-Anne so he could avoid Harry for the rest of the day. This plan did not work out because Leigh-Anne decided that she needed a “potty break” and Louis had to wait outside the girls restroom like a loser and Harry just happened to be walking by.

 

“Hey, boyfriend!” Harry chirped jokingly leaning against the wall next to Louis.

 

“What do you want, Harry?” Louis asks uninterested.

 

Harry steps up from this place on the wall stands in front of Louis both hands pressed on the wall on either side of Louis’ face. 

 

“Was just wondering if you wanted to come to my place so we could… practise some more,” Harry says leaning closer to Louis’ face. 

 

“Um, no thanks.” Louis says bluntly shoving Harry’s body off of his. 

 

Harry looks shocked and almost confused.

 

“What? Why?” Harry asks, his voice totally changing from the deep seductive tone to a high pitched squeak. 

 

“You know why!” Louis says as if it were obvious.

 

Harry looks even more confused.

 

Louis groans as he explains. “You were acting buddy-buddy with Nick! The guy I’m running against! The boy who cheated on you!” “Did you see how he embarrassed me today?” 

 

Harry scoffs. “That’s why you’re mad? Because I was talking with Nick?” Harry raises his voice. Thank God the hallway was empty.

 

“As long as we’re doing  _ this,  _ you’re not allowed to speak with him.” Louis crosses his arms.

 

“Oh, really, I’m not allowed to talk to my friend because I’m  _ dating  _ you?!” Harry chuckles. 

 

“How could he be your friend if he cheated on you?!” Louis raises his voice to match Harry’s. 

 

“People can be friends with their exes, Louis.” Harry looks down at him.

 

“Not with someone who literally broke your heart and left you crying for days!” Louis exclaimed. 

 

Harry’s face contorts. “Well I’m friends with you again and you messed me up worse than Nick ever did!”

 

Louis doesn’t know what to say to that so he angrily stares. 

 

“Why are we like this?” Harry asks. “We were fine yesterday, why do you so badly want to ruin this?” Harry motions between the two of them. “I’m the one helping  _ you _ . If I hated you, I wouldn’t have said yes. If you want me to continue pretending than you can’t keep telling me what I can and cannot do!”

 

Leigh-Anne finally comes out of the restroom and is a bit taken back at how angry Louis and Harry are glaring at each other.

 

Louis dramatically backs off the wall, purposely hit his shoulder against Harry’s and walks with Leigh-Anne down the hall. 

 

Louis turns his head around to see Harry standing in the same spot he was and called out, “Pick me up at 8 tomorrow,” “And you know the drill: don’t dress stupid.” he concludes and continues walking with Leigh-Anne. 

 

…

 

**8pm December 23rd**

 

_ Harry dresses stupid.  _

 

He’s wearing the tightest, whitest jeans that Louis had ever seen (He plans to “accidentally” pour beer on them), and he is wearing completely sheer floral blouse. It was so clear that Louis could see all four of Harry’s nipples. To complete the look, Harry wore obnoxiously sparkly gold boots, coated in glitter. 

 

Louis rolled his eyes as he examined the outfit and walked to Harry’s Audi. He sure did hate Harry, but he would never get tired of the heated leather seats. He hops in and feels a buzz in his pants pocket. He takes his phone out and chuckles at the message.

 

_ Liam: hey mate could u swing by zayns to help him with his statistics homework? Oh and dress nice. Zayn cant focus if u dont dress nice :) _

 

_ Louis: sure mate ! i’ll dress nicely to help him  _

 

Liam and Zayn were still going along with their surprise party idea. Louis appreciates the hard work, but he knew what they had been planning for over a week now. Louis had practiced his surprise face in the mirror for days and he thinks he perfected a fake shocked face. 

 

“What’s so funny?” Harry asks looking over at Louis’ phone as he started the car. Louis jerks back hiding his phone in his armpit.

 

“None of your business, Styles.” Louis mumbles. Louis was still angry about Harry talking to Nick yesterday. 

 

“Ya know, if you keep being mean to me, I won’t give you your birthday gift.” Harry says with a grin on his face as he begins to drive. Louis perks up at that.

 

“You got me a gift?” Louis asks, his tone softer.

 

“Yep,” Harry smiles. “If you want it, you can’t be mean for the rest of the night.”

 

Louis nods quickly. “I can manage,”. “So… what did ya get me?” Louis asks fluttering his eyelashes. 

 

“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out.” Harry winks at Louis. Louis groans and sinks back into the seat. 

 

…

 

They pull up to the driveway of Zayn's house and there are many cars. This “surprise” was definitely not well planned out. 

 

“Wow, a lotta cars here for me to help Zayn with statistics!” Louis says sarcastically as they get out of the car. Harry laughs at that and grabs Louis’ hand.

 

“Let’s go, love, someone needs your help with graphs.” Harry plays along leading him to the front door. 

 

Harry turns the knob and the door opens. It’s dark. The blinding lights turn on.

 

“Surprise!” everyone yells. 

 

Louis tries out his shocked face. “Wow! Oh my god, I wasn’t expecting this!” he gapes. “Thank you so much guys!” 

 

There were about 50 people there already. Mainly people he considered friends. He assumed more people would be coming later. 

 

The music immediately starts playing and most of the people disperse to get drinks or to dance. Liam and Zayn rush over to greet Louis.

 

“Happy Birthday mate!” Zayn gives Louis a bear hug. 

 

“Haha thanks Zaynie,” Louis giggles. Zayn lets go and Liam gives him a squeeze.

 

“Happy 19th bud,” he says giving him a pat on the back as he lets go. Louis smiles and nods.

 

Out of nowhere he is being attacked by two bodies and he instantly knows who has him almost falling to the floor. Leigh-Anne and Niall squeeze the life out of Louis.

 

They’re all laughing from their stomachs when they crash to the ground.

 

“Happy Birthday Lou!” Leigh-Anne says grabbing Louis’ face and giving him a huge kiss on his cheek. Louis giggles as he turns red. 

 

Niall gives Louis’ other cheek a huge kiss and they all continue to laugh as they stand up. 

 

“So… how was your date last night?” Louis asks raising an eyebrow once they’re all laughed out. 

 

Leigh-Anne covers her face with her hands as she giggles and Niall turns red.

 

“Oh, so I’m assuming it went well, then!” Louis playfully hits Nialls arm.

 

…

 

They had been there for an hour and Louis, Leigh-Anne and Niall were completely pissed. Louis hadn’t seen Harry since they entered the party and this is somewhat worrying because Harry was his ride home. 

 

Louis tries to weave his way through the crowd of people whilst saying “Thanks” every time someone said wished him Happy Birthday. No luck in finding Harry, but he does find someone else interesting; Andrew. 

 

Andrew had definitely drunk a lot more than Louis had because we has dancing on everyone in with his shirt unbuttoned all the way. 

 

Louis approaches him and steps a little too close to him.

 

“Heyyy Louiiiii,” Andrew slurs putting an arm around Louis’ shoulder. “How are ya?”

 

“I’m fine, mate,” Louis says slowly. “How bout you?”

 

“I’m having soo much fun!” Andrew draws out standing in front of Louis now.

 

Louis can now see those freckles that every year 12 girl obsessed over.  

 

“Wanna dance?” Andrew asks holding on to Louis’ hips. Louis leans in closer to the touch and grinds forward.

 

Louis smiles as Andrew forcefully turns Louis’ body so that his front was connected to Louis’ back. 

 

Louis dances into Andrews front, closing his eyes. He had forgotten what he was supposed to do but he didn’t care because he was having the time of his life dancing against the younger boy to the beat of the music. 

 

“Sooo… Louis, where’s your boyfriend?” Andrew questions, slowing down his hips. Louis backs into him signaling for him to move faster. He does. Louis sighs with pleasure.

 

And if on cue, a large hand grabs Louis’ shoulder. It’s Harry.

 

Andrew backs off of him. Louis sighs from the lack of heat on his backside.

 

“Can I borrow Louis for a moment?” Harry asks politely but it’s quite obvious that he’s really drunk as well. Andrew nods and moves on to another person.

 

Harry grabs Louis by his wrist and leads him to a random, empty hallway in Zayn's house.

 

“And you say that I’m ruining the plan.” Harry says pinning Louis against the wall like he did the day before. 

 

This time, Louis didn’t protest. He lunged forward and connected their lips. They moved in sync, grabbing each others hair, taking turns shoving each other on the wall. Harry shoves his hands up Louis’ shirt and scratches at his back. Louis moans into Harry’s mouth. Harry leans his body closer to Louis, their clothed hard ons rubbing against each other. 

 

Louis breaks the kiss and it is his turn to put Harry against the wall. He attaches his teeth to Harry’s neck and starts sucking. There would most definitely be marks after that. 

 

“Lou, Lou, let’s-” Harry moans. “Let’s go home.”

 

Louis doesn’t even say anything. He drags Harry through the crowd and stops to give him a forceful kiss in the center of the sweaty bodies. He holds tightly on his wrist until they get to the door when he stops. He grabs onto Harry’s hips and pulls him closer so he could hear him.

 

“You-you’re drunk, you can’t drive.” Louis says loudly into Harry’s ear.

 

“Uber!” Harry exclaims whipping out his phone.

 

…

 

The Uber comes 10 minutes later as they were making out in the grass of Zayn’s front lawn. They hop into the Uber and try to keep their hands off of each other. They weren’t successful, Harry kept teasing Louis by stroking him over his jeans causing Louis to bite his lip to keep any noises from coming out.

 

They arrive at Harry’s house and they run to the front door, connecting their lips for the 50th time as Harry fumbles with his keys. He opens the door with Louis still on him. He kicks the door shut and drags Louis by his wrist up the stairs to his bedroom. He pushes Louis onto the bed and gets on top of him, grinding into him. 

 

Louis gasps and grabs Harry’s neck pulling him down on him. Louis thrusts upwards causing Harry to moan loudly. 

 

Harry gets off of him and begins to take off his jeans. Louis struggles to do the same, but Harry helps him pull off his jeans and pants in one pull. Louis was so hard. He could see that Harry was too. There was a wet spot on his briefs. Louis grabs Harry by the waistband and pulls his pants down. 

 

“Wow.” Louis stares at Harry’s naked body in awe. 

 

Harry gets back on top of him, their sweaty, naked bodies rubbing against each other. Harry lowers himself and takes Louis in his mouth for a few seconds. Louis grabs his hair and stops him.

 

“I want you to fuck me.”

 

With that, Harry quickly gets off Louis and runs to his bathroom to get the things he needs. Louis lays their impatiently.

 

Harry comes back with a condom on and a bottle of lube in his hands. He spreads Louis’ legs apart and wets his fingers. 

 

He holds Louis’ thighs apart with his elbows and Louis raises himself a bit so Harry could get a good angle. He inserts one finger.  _ Very eager.  _ Louis’ eyes roll the back on his head. Harry grins at that.

 

Finger number too. Harry scissors his fingers inside of Louis and his body twitches when Harry pushes his fingers in further.

 

Finger number three. Louis couldn’t wait anymore. “Harr-”

 

Harry’s fingers reach his prostate. He repeatedly hits it until Louis grabs his hand. 

 

“I’m ready.”

 

Harry nods and removes his fingers and coats his wrapped dick in lube.

 

Louis just stares at him, his mouth agape.

 

Harry positions himself and lowers himself in. Louis doesn’t make a sound. He looks Harry straight in the eye. Harry bottoms out and leans in and gives Louis a rough kiss. He moves in and out of Louis, without taking his eyes off of him. Louis moans with every thrust. He hits his prostate everytime. It felt so good. The best Louis had ever had. Louis clenched around him. Squeezing tighter whenever Harry made a noise.

 

“Lou,” “You’re so-” he thrusts harder. Louis’ mouth opens wide. Harry shuts his mouth by connectings their lips. He licks into Louis’ mouth as he pushes in him further. “Beautiful.”

 

Louis wraps his legs around Harry’s back and grips his hands on his shoulders, pulling himself closer. He lifts his hips so he could thrust into Harry. 

 

“Lou…”

 

Harry squeezes his eyes shut and gasps as he releases into Louis. Louis feels this and releases onto his own stomach, without even being touched.

 

Harry collapses on Louis’ sticky body, still inside him. Harry lifts himself up and Louis is still staring. He walks to his bathroom and grabs a rag. He positions his knees on either side of Louis and cleans both of their chests. Green eyes to blue. They both don’t dare look away. 

 

…

 

**10am December 24th**

 

Louis wakes up to curls in his face and the smell of strawberries.  _ Oh, it’s Harry.  _ Louis looks down to see that his arms are wrapped around Harry’s frame. He’s  _ spooning Harry?  _ Louis wants to move his hands but at the same time he doesn’t. He buries his face into Harry’s hair and intakes the smell a bit more.  _ It’s amazing. _

 

“Happy Birthday, Louis.” Harry mumbles into Louis’ chest. Louis’ heart beats faster when he feels Harry’s warmth.

 

“Um, thanks.” Louis says, finally removing his arms. Harry gets off of him and sits up straight. He stretches his arms and rubs his eyes. 

 

“I’m gonna brush my teeth and make breakfast,” he says as he gets off the bed. Harry tosses him clothes from a chair. “You can wear these, your, uh, clothes from yesterday got a bit messy.”

 

He walks into the bathroom and Louis can’t help but look at how his arse moves when he walks.

 

Before changing Louis pulls his phones from the pocket of his jeans on the floor.

 

**leigh-anne sucks ( 5 unread)**

 

_ Niall: HAPPY BIRTHDAYYYYYY  _

_ Niall: hope you got some last night ;) ;) _

_ Leigh: niall stop _

_ Niall: HAHAHHAH LOU EVERYONE SAW YOU TWO IN THE GRASS. MAN U 2 REALLY ARE COMMITTED TO THIS FAKE RELATIONSHIP THING AHAHSHDHASDJA _

_ Leigh: ugh. Ignore him. happy birthday louissss :) _

 

Louis looks at his phone confused.  _ In the grass? What happened in the grass?  _ Louis looks down to the floor to see Harry’s pure white pants covered in green marks. Louis’ t-shirt had the same colored marks.  _ Oh? Oh.  _

 

As Harry exits the bathroom, everything comes back to Louis.  _ We had sex.  _ Louis realises when he looks down to see he’s only wearing his underpants.  _ Hopefully not in the grass.  _

 

Harry walks down the stairs without looking at him.

 

Louis gets up and walks to the bathroom. He sees a condom wrapper by the sink and a bottle of lube on the floor.  _ We had sex here. Thank God.  _

 

Louis brushes his teeth with the brush he left the first time he slept over. He puts on the oversized Nirvana t-shirt and grey sweatpants. He washes his sleepy face and walks downstairs. 

 

He smells something really good as he hits the bottom of the stairs.  _ Birthday pancakes.  _

 

When Harry and Louis were younger, Harry’s mother would make Harry birthday pancakes. Louis would come in the morning to share the multiple sprinkle covered pancakes with icing and chocolate syrup.

 

He enters the kitchen to see Harry smiling as he flips the 6th pancake.

 

“Hey Louis!” Harry’s smile widens when he sees Louis lower himself into his seat. 

 

“Good morning, Harry.” Louis chuckles fondly. 

 

Harry grabs Louis’ plate of pancakes and places it right in front of him. He grabs his own plate and sits in the seat in front of Louis.

 

“Birthday pancakes.” Louis says trying very hard to hold back the reddening in his cheeks.

 

“Yep,” Harry cuts a piece of his own. “You never got your own so I decided to make you some.”

 

Louis blushes. “Thanks, Haz.”

 

“No problem, what’re friends for?” Harry is still smiling.

 

_ Friends. _

 

Louis chuckles, “Why are you smiling like that?”

 

Harry shifts in his seat, trying to hold back his smile from growing even more.

 

“I’m excited to give you your gift!” Harry laughs and takes a bite of his pancake.

 

“So… what is it?” Louis asks cutting off a piece of his pancake and puts it in his mouth.

 

“I’ll give it to you when we finish breakfast.” 

 

Louis nods and continues to eat his  _ amazing  _ pancakes. 

 

…

 

They’re sat on Harry’s bed with Louis covering his eyes. 

 

“Okay, open your eyes!” Harry says as he hands Louis an envelope.

 

Louis opens his tired eyes and accepts the envelope. Harry nods for him to open it. Louis giggles and carefully lifts the flap. He takes out two pieces of paper inside.

 

_ Ed Sheeran tickets. _

 

“Harry…”

 

“You like em?” Harry asks poking at Louis’ stomach.

 

“Of fucking course I like em Harry!” he exclaims enveloping Harry into a hug and squeezing him tight. Harry chuckles.

 

“I’m glad you like them.”

 

“Holy shit Haz! Front row too! These must’ve cost a fortune!” Louis stares at the tickets.

 

“No big deal! Friends do kind things for each other.” Harry grins.

 

Louis squeezes him into another big hug. They pull apart and look at each other, smiling. Louis leans in and gives Harry a small peck.

 

“Thank you so much, Harry,” Louis wraps his arms around Harry for a third time. “You’re an amazing friend.”

 

…

 

**6pm December 24th**

 

A few years ago, dinner with Louis’ family would be a normal thing. In fact, the Styles and Tomlinson-Deakins had dinner together every Friday. That hadn’t happened in 5 years and this time, his mother and step-father wouldn’t be there. It was just him and Louis’ family. 

 

Harry sat between Louis and one of his sisters, Lottie. Jay sat across from them, grinning as she ate her potatoes.

 

“So, Harry,” Jay started. Louis rolled his eyes. “How have you been?”

 

“I’ve been great, Jay, a lot of school work, but other than that, I’ve been quite well lately,” Harry says and takes a sip of water. “And you?”

 

“Oh, thanks for asking! I’m actually really happy right now,” she smiles wider. “Because you and Harry are mates again!” she claps.

 

“Mum…” Louis mumbles.

 

“What Louis? I’m just so excited we could all hang out together again!”

 

Harry smiles and nods.

 

“And we are all so happy that you could spend Christmas with all of us,” Jay says. “Right girls?” she asks the table.

 

Lottie nods and swallows her food. “I’m really happy that you and Louis are hanging out again,” she gives a small laugh. “I think we all missed you around the house.”

 

Harry missed Lottie too. She and him would always hang out whenever Louis was at footie practice. She was a few years younger, but they acted like close friends. They would paint each others nails and play with Lottie’s “expensive” and “ultra rare” Barbie dolls. 

 

“I missed you too, Lottie.” Harry smiles at her.

 

Louis clears his throat. “Um, Harry can I talk to you, in the kitchen?” Louis asks, his eyes telling that it’s urgent. Harry nods and excuses himself from the table as he follows Louis into the kitchen. He sees Jay’s confused gaze and he is just as confused as she is. 

 

“We have to tell her.” Louis says.

 

“Tell her what?” Harry asks.

 

“That we’re  _ dating  _ you idiot!” Louis whisper yells. 

 

_ Ah. THIS Louis is back. _

 

“Oh ok,” Harry responds. 

 

“She’s just really happy and I think it would be great to keep her in this mood for Christmas.” Louis whispers. 

 

“How are we gonna do it?”

 

“I was thinking of just outright sayin’ it.” Louis looks over Harry’s shoulder into the dining room where the family was eating. 

 

“Cool, that’s fine with me.” Harry nods. 

 

Louis nods too and they both enter the dining room. This time they don’t sit down. They stand in the entryway, awkwardly.

 

“Mum, I gotta tell you something,” Louis starts looking at Harry.  _ Yes! I don’t have to speak.  _

 

“Harry and I are uh in a relationship.” he says to the room. Jay’s smiles grows. She stands up with tears in her eyes and walks over to give Louis and Harry huge hugs. She kisses both of them on the cheeks and she bounces up and down. 

 

“I’m so happy for you two! I’ve been waiting for this.” she wipes her tears and gives them another group hug.

 

“Mum!” Louis laughs wiping her tears with his thumb.

 

“This is great! I had a feeling because you’ve been going to his house a lot lately, but now it’s confirmed!” she smiles.

 

“I’m gonna go make a cake!” she says abandoning her dinner and jogging to the kitchen. Louis and Harry both chuckle and take their seats.

 

“Congratulations, you two.” Louis’ stepfather, Dan says as he collects everyone's empty plates.

 

“Thank you.” Louis and Harry say in unison causing them to giggle. 

 

It was just them and the rest of the kids left at the table.

 

Louis’ younger sister, Felicite speaks up. “How long has this been a thing?” she motions between the pair.

 

Harry looks at Louis, fondly. “Um, about 3 weeks.” He smiles. 

 

“Yeah, that’s about right.” Louis nods. 

 

“That’s a really long time!” Daisy chimes in, eyes wide open.

 

“Ha! Not really, but yeah hopefully longer!” Louis visibly squeezes Harry’s hand.

 

Harry notices that Lottie stayed silent, which was odd because she usually was quite the talker.

 

“Ugh! You guys are so cute!” Felicite exclaims looks at their interlocked fingers.

 

Harry and Louis look at each other and smile. They were amazing actors.

 

…

 

“You and Louis can sleep in the same bed,” Louis hears Jay speaking to Harry in the hall. “No funny business though!” she and Harry laugh. 

 

“Goodnight Jay!” Harry giggles and walks into Louis’ room. Louis had taken a shower and had kicked Harry out while he changed even though Harry saw him naked, numerous times. 

 

“I think I’m gonna take a shower too.” Harry says grabbing some clothes from his overnight bag. 

 

Louis nods looking up from his phone and Harry exits and shuts the door. Only a few seconds later, the door is pushed open by an angry Lottie. This startles Louis and he drops his phone. She slams the door shut.

 

“Gosh, Lottie!” he exclaims picking up his phone. 

 

She sits on the edge of his bed and crosses her arms.

 

“How dare you lie to Mum like that?” she glares at him.

 

“What are you talking about?” he asks dumbly even though he knows EXACTLY what she’s talking about. 

 

“You told Mum that you and Harry were dating even though you aren’t!” she says lowering her voice.

 

Louis is shocked that she would even know that he and Harry weren’t dating. He thought that he and Harry did an excellent job pretending. 

 

“Wha-what no, we are certainly dating!” Louis tries to lie. “We had sex!” Louis adds.  _ That part isn’t a lie.  _

 

“Ew.” Lottie responds. She shakes her head. “I know you’re not dating because I overheard you threatening to out Luke last week if Harry broke any of your  _ rules. _ ” she says with an angry tone. “You’re a real dick ya’ know.” she adds.

 

“So, I’ve heard.” Louis rolls his eyes.

 

“Ok now explain to me why you’re pretending to date him and  _ why  _ are you bringing Mum into this.” she crosses her legs and waits for an explanation. 

 

“Ok,” Louis takes a deep breath. “The leader of GSA said that no one in the club was gonna vote for me because they thought I was homophobic,” “GSA is a huge organization so if they support Nick, he’ll probably win, so… I needed GSA to think I wasn’t homophobic and to do that, I needed to show them that I was gay,” “I didn’t wanna come out normally because they would be like ‘oh! This Louis twat is only doing this to get our vote blah blah’. So I asked Harry to fake date me so I could come out that way and GSA would love me!” he finishes out of breath.

 

Lottie nods, not surprised. “Now, Mum…” she scoots closer to him.

 

“Oh, yeah. So basically, Mum has been bothering me, months about Harry and how he was ‘such a good boy’” he mimics his Mother's voice. “She always pushed the idea of us dating and I would always shut her down because I would never  _ really  _ date Harry. So, I thought, if I’m fooling the whole school, why not just tell Mum that I’m dating Harry? I just wanted to make her happy.” Louis looks down.

 

“I get it.” Lottie says.

 

“Really?” Louis is shocked she was being so calm.

 

“Yeah. You just wanted to make her happy. That’s nice of you.” she says putting her hand on his shoulder.

 

Louis smiles.

 

“But Louis,” she starts looking at him. “Don’t ever say that you would never really date Harry,” she looks at him. “You should've seen the way you looked at each other,” “Could’ve had me fooled.” she says standing up.

 

“Louis, it’s obvious that he really likes you,” “And even if you don’t wanna admit it, you like him too.” she says softly walking towards the door. 

 

“Maybe this could last past February.” she winks and leaves his room, shutting the door behind her.

 

Louis stares at the door in shock.

 

_ I might like him too.  _

 

**2pm December 25th**

 

“Okay! Harry and Louis’ turn to exchange gifts!” Lottie says grabbing the last two gifts from under the tree. Everyone was in their pajamas and was surrounded by ripped wrapping paper. Everyone, including Harry had a stack of presents by their feet.

 

Harry reaches over and grabs both gifts and hands his gift Louis.

 

“You got me another gift!?” Louis exclaims. “The first one was enough Harry!” 

 

Harry giggles. “It’s a small one, don’t worry.” 

 

Louis unwraps the box and opens it. 

 

“You got me the jumper I wanted!” Louis exclaims taking out the light purple jumper out of the box. It had a small pocket on the left side. Louis had wanted the jumper for months but they never had his size. 

 

“Wait- how d-did you know I wanted this?” Louis asks clutching the sweatshirt to his chest.

 

Harry giggles, “I saw you staring at it for like 10 minutes that time we went to Topman.”

 

Louis’ face turns red. He leans in and give Harry a small kiss.  _ Because the family is here and they needed to believe that Harry and I are really dating. Duh. _

 

The whole family “Aw”’s and Louis receives a knowing wink from Lottie. Louis rolls his eyes and starts smiling at his new favorite jumper. 

 

Louis puts the jumper back in its box and pats Harry’s knee.

 

“Open the one I got for you! I got you twooo things.” Louis smiles.

 

Harry grins back. The whole family was watching him as he opens up his present. 

 

“Oh my gosh, Louis, it’s beautiful.” Harry says in awe as he takes out the brown leather journal. Louis can tell that he genuinely likes it. Louis smiles in accomplishment. 

 

“Open the second one!” Louis points to the flat box on the floor. Harry drops the notebook in his lap and reaches over for the second box.

 

Louis can’t contain his excitement when he helps Harry rip off the wrapping paper. 

 

“ _ Faith _ .” Harry simply states. 

 

“Lou…where did you find this? I’ve been looking for one for years!” Harry smiles taking the vinyl out so the whole family could see. 

 

“Well, I saw on your wall that you had all the George Michael vinyls except for  _ Faith.  _ It was only one quick google search, Haz, it’s no big deal.” Louis says smiling almost as wide as Harry.

 

“Louis! It is a big deal! Thank you so much!” Harry leans in and gives Louis a nice squeeze. The family watches them with smiles on their faces. Jay snaps a few pictures of the “couple” as they looked at each other fondly. Louis looks up at Harry and giggles as his Mum tried to be sneaky taking the photos. Both of their cheeks turn red from embarrassment.

 

_ ‘It’s obvious that he really likes you”  _

 

…

 

**12pm January 8th**

 

Winter break ended quite quickly in Louis’ opinion. The snow storm cleared up the day after Christmas and Harry got the chance to drive 3 hours to Berkshire to surprise his Mother for New Years. He stayed for a few days, that’s why Louis didn’t get to see him. It was a bit odd for Louis. He spent almost a month spending everyday day with Harry. He didn’t see him for a full week! He missed him. But he would NEVER say that out loud. When Harry returned, Louis didn’t want to leave him. He slept over at Harry’s every night after Harry came back, claiming that his house was too loud to sleep in. Harry didn’t question it and they cuddled and fell asleep. Louis would help Harry with his Calculus in the morning and would later go back to his own house to spend time with his family. Harry came over for dinner twice after Christmas and the Tomlinsons treated him exactly the same as they did 5 years ago. It felt like deja vu. Louis loved it.

 

It was their first day back from break and everyone was tired and upset to be back at school. Louis was surprisingly happy. He got to see his two bestest friends. 

 

Louis noticed that there was definitely something weird going on between Leigh-Anne and Niall, but he didn’t point it out.

 

“What’s up with those two?” Harry whispers in Louis’ ear. Louis looks over to Leigh-Anne and Niall who were avoiding each other at all costs, even though they sat across from each other. 

 

Louis chuckles. “I truly don’t know.” he whispers back.

 

Louis looks at them one last time. “Actually, I’m gonna find out,” “You try to figure out from Leigh, I’ll talk to Niall.” Louis tells Harry. Harry nods and turns his body towards Leigh-Anne. Louis gets up to talk to Niall. 

 

“Oi, Niall, you want cheetos?” Louis asks. Niall quickly gets up and follows Louis to the vending machines.

 

“So, tell me what happened between you and Leigh-Anne.” Louis says as they start walking. 

 

Niall laughs nervously. “What? Nothings going on!” “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

 

“Mate…” Louis nudges Niall's shoulder.

 

“Okay fine I’ll tell’ya!” Niall gives up. “We kissed.” Niall says looking down.

 

“You did!?” Louis turns to face him. “Was it good?” 

 

“F’course it was good!” Niall covers his face.

 

“Then why aren’t you talking?” Louis questions, confused.

 

“Um…well...after we kissed at Zayns, she told me that she liked someone else, so I lied and told her that I liked somebody else too.” Niall lowers his voice.

 

“What?” Louis chuckles. “Leigh-Anne doesn’t like anyone. She would’ve told me if she did.”

 

“Well did she say that she liked me?” 

 

“No but-”

 

“That means she doesn’t like me!” Niall says in disappointment. 

 

“No,no, Niall. I think she likes you,” Louis sighs as they reach the vending machine line. “She probably didn’t tell me because you’re my best mate.” 

 

“Honestly, Neil, I think she’s lying about the crush because she was so shocked by the kiss.” Louis says as the line moves. 

 

“That could be true,” Niall takes a deep breath. “I really like her, mate, I’ve loved her ever since I met her,” “I can’t screw up our friendship if this doesn’t work out.” 

 

Louis nods and pats Niall's back.

 

It’s their turn at the vending machine and Louis pulls out a dollar to get Niall the Cheetos that he promised.

 

“So… speaking of liking people… you and Harry eh.” Niall winks.

 

Louis tries not to blush. “Stop it, Niall.” he smiles.

 

“Really mate, you two were full out rolling on the grass, snogging!” Niall chuckles at the memory.

 

Louis rolls his eyes. “Like you said, we were really committed to this plan.”

 

“No, I think that one was real, mate,” “Admit it, you fancy, Harry.” Niall pushes.

 

“I don’t fancy him.” Louis puts in his dollar.

 

“Oh, you know you do,” Niall laughs. “I’ve known you for 8 years and I can tell when you care about someone,” “It shows in your face.”

 

“No it doesn’t.” Louis picks up the Cheetos and hands them to Niall as they walk back.

 

“You really should see the way you look at him,” “You two look proper in love.”

 

“Then I guess Harry and I are just really good at this fake relationship thing.”

 

“No, mate, I think you just don’t wanna admit that you love him,” Niall smiles at him. “I can tell that he loves you too.”

 

…

 

Harry actually felt a large respect for Louis after hearing Leigh-Anne rant about her date with Niall. She talks A LOT. 

 

“Ok, so, Zayns party,” she breathes in. “We were just dancing and I don’t really know what happened but we kissed,” she sighs at the memory. “We had sobered up so I didn’t have the excuse of ‘oh, I was drunk’.”

 

“Was it a good kiss?” Harry asks.

 

“Of course it was a bloody good kiss!” Leigh-Anne puts her head down.

 

“So, what happened after that?”

 

“So, I panicked because I was shocked that it happened, and I told him that I liked someone else, even though I like him, and he goes and says that he likes someone else too!” she leans back into her chair.

 

“And we haven’t had a normal conversation since that night and none of us brought it up.” she sighs. 

 

“Leigh-Anne, I’m pretty sure that Niall likes you a lot, and I don’t think that he likes someone else,” Harry says putting his hand on top of hers and squeezing it. “He probably only said that because you said it first.” 

 

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” she groans and tilts her head back. “I really love him and I gotta fix this or else, it’ll ruin our friendship.” she sighs.

 

“I’m sure everything will work out, Leigh,” Harry smiles. “You both obviously love each other so much, I can tell.”

 

Leigh-Anne giggles. “Yeah…”

 

“Hey, Harry,” she turns to look at him. “How’re you and Louis doing?” she asks, significantly happier than she was 5 minutes ago.

 

“Me and Louis are fine, I’m taking him to the Ed Sheeran concert this weekend,” Harry smiles.

 

“The Ed Sheeran concert!?” Leigh-Anne perks up. “Harry, that’s been sold out for months and the StubHub tickets were so expensive!” 

 

“Yeah it was a bit costly, but Louis likes Ed so-”

 

“Oh my God you’re bloody in love with him!” Leigh-Anne exclaims.

 

“Wha- No, no I’m not!” Harry defends himself.

 

“Harry, I wouldn’t spend that much money on me Mum!” Leigh-Anne squeals. “And I love my Mum.” She adds.

 

Harry tries to defend himself again but Leigh-Anne jumps in again.

 

“You two really are something,” Leigh-Anne giggles. “Niall and I both called it,” “You two are gonna end up falling in love after this.”

 

“No, we’re not,” Harry chuckles. “After February, Louis and I are gonna be just friends.”

 

“You can’t be just friends if you have feelings for each other.” Leigh-Anne sips her juice.

 

“We don’t have feelings for each other.” Harry looks down.  _ I do.  _

 

“H, If you’re worried about if Louis likes you or not, don’t worry at all!” Leigh-Anne giggles. “He hasn’t said it out loud, but to me it’s clear; he likes you a lot.” 

 

Harry blushes.

 

“Aww you like him too!” Leigh-Anne pinches his red cheeks. Harry puts his head down, smiling. “I won’t tell him that you like him, Harry,” she says rubbing his back. “That’s your job.”

 

…

 

**10pm January 12th**

 

Louis was having the absolute time of his life at the Ed Sheeran concert. He was smiling through every song (even the sad ones). He screamed the lyrics to all the songs that Ed played and Harry stood next to him and smiled and even giggled a few times. Louis even saw Harry sneaking a few photos of him. They were so close to the stage that he could reach up and grab Ed’s hand if he weren’t sitting on the stool in the center of the stage.  _ Harry did good. No, Harry did great.  _ Louis was so thankful that Harry did this for him. It was probably one of the best days of his life.

 

The concert was coming to a close and there was one song left according the set list Louis found on Twitter.

 

Louis turned to his side and saw Harry looking up when Ed was talking. As Ed was setting up his guitar for the next song, Louis brought Harry close to him and gave him a squeeze. “Thank you for this, Harry.” he whispered. 

 

Harry held him and didn’t let go for the duration of the final song,  _ Friends.  _

Ed’s soothing voice travels through the silent arena.

 

**_We're not, no we're not friends, nor have we ever been._ **

**_We just try to keep those secrets in a lie,_ **

**_And if they find out, will it all go wrong?_ **

**_And Heaven knows, no one wants it to._ **

 

Louis leans in closer to Harry and holds him tight as Ed sings. It would be a moment that he would never forget. He was seeing his favorite artist live, he couldn’t thank Harry enough.

 

**_So I could take the back road_ **

**_But your eyes will lead me straight back home._ **

**_And if you know me like I know you_ **

**_You should love me, you should know._ **

 

Hearing the song live, gave Louis a different effect. He felt as if, crazy as it sounds, that Ed was singing for him. 

 

**_Friends just sleep in another bed,_ **

 

Harry and Louis sleep in the same bed.

 

**_And friends don't treat me like you do._ **

 

Niall definitely didn’t treat Louis like Harry did.

 

**_No, my friends won't love me like you._ **

 

Louis gulps.  _ Oh my God.  _

 

Louis tries to stay calm for the rest of the song. It’s hard when the lyrics were extremely relatable to his and Harry’s situation. They couldn’t be just friends. 

 

**_Friends should sleep in other beds._ **

 

_ Yep, they should. _

 

**_And friends shouldn't kiss me like you do._ **

 

_ I like when Harry kisses me. _

 

**_And I know that there's a limit to everything._ **

**_But my friends won't love me like you._ **

 

_ They won’t. _

 

**_No, my friends won't love me like you do._ **

**_Oh, my friends will never love me like you._ **

 

_ Wow.  _

 

Louis doesn’t move from his spot next to Harry even when Ed has left the stage and the lights go on. People begin exiting. There is music playing through the arena. He can barely hear it over the sound of people trying to go home.  _ Far Away.  _ That’s the song. The song that Harry would sing to him when they were younger. Louis would ask Harry to sing for him when he was upset. That was his go-to song to sing to make Louis feel better.

 

He stays in Harry’s warmth until Harry clears his throat.

 

“Hey Lou, this is nice and all, but we need to catch the tube home.” Harry whispers in Louis’ ear.

 

Louis finally lets go. “Oh! Sorry.” 

 

_ Stupid, stupid, stupid. _

 

Harry extends his hand for Louis to grab and they exit the arena in silence.

 

…

 

Harry is curled up against Louis’ chest like they usually are. Harry is fast asleep after the long concert but Louis still can’t get over the day they had. It was amazing. He takes out his phone. 

 

**leigh-anne sucks**

 

_ Louis: u were right, neil. i like harry _

_ Niall: YES YES YES YES SNSKSKAKAKAKS _

_ Leigh: im gonna cry _

_ Niall: I FUCKIN TOLD YA HAHAHAHAH _

_ Louis: idk what to do :(((((( _

_ Leigh: you’ll figure it out, love. _

_ Leigh: we’ll help u _

_ Niall: yeah we will mate :) _

_ Louis: <3 i love you both :))))) _

 

Louis locks his phone and looks at the sleeping boy resting against him.

 

_ Holy shit, I’m in love. _

 

_ … _


	5. Chapter 5

**5pm January 18th**

 

“Okay so, we need to have one more thing that can secure our win,” Leigh-Anne paces around the room thinking of an idea. The election was in two weeks and Louis was quite confident that they would be winning. They didn’t need another campaign strategy. 

 

Louis really needed Leigh-Anne to hurry up because he was supposed to be meeting Harry so they could have dinner.  _ He’s making pasta.  _

 

Niall stands up and steadies Leigh-Anne. “Stop pacing so much love, it’s making everyone nervous.” he chuckles.

 

Leigh-Anne shakes out of his grip with a laugh. Her eyes lit up.  _ Ooh she has an idea.  _ She squeezes Niall’s wrist and starts jumping up and down.

 

“We can throw a party!” Leigh-Anne dances. “Like, a campaign party and we can invite a bunch of people from different groups in the school so they could like us!” 

 

_ That IS a great idea.  _ A party could really get them the support that they needed. They could invite all the random clubs and organizations that seemed impartial and maybe change their minds.

 

“Great idea, Leigh!” Louis shoots up. His excitement dies down when he notices one flaw.  _ Where could the party be?  _ They couldn’t have it at Louis’ house, there are 9 people in the house, Niall’s parents returned on business, Zayn was grounded for breaking a table after the last party, and everyone knows that Leigh-Anne would never let unknown people into her home.

 

“But Leigh-Anne, where can we throw a party?” Louis sits back down. “We have nowhere to have it!” he says defeated.

 

Leigh-Anne groans and flops beside him. 

 

Niall’s voice comes from a distance. “Ya’ know, there is someone who has a parent-less house that we’re quite close to.” Niall winks.

 

Leigh-Anne and Louis both look at each other clueless.  _ Who could this idiot be talking about? _

 

“Harry, you tits!” Niall gives an exasperated sigh and falls into Leigh-Anne’s lap as she giggles.

 

“Wait, wait, Niall’s right,” she starts petting Niall’s hair.  _ Shit, they’re cute.  _ “Harry has a completely open house,” she reaches out to touch Louis. “Lou, Lou, please ask him!” she begs.

 

Throwing a party at Harry’s would be great. It’s quite large and there would be no problem of worrying about when his parents were coming home because his Mother is gone for another four months and his step-father would be returning in August. This was perfect! All Louis had to do was convince the uptight bloke to lend him his house for one night. 

 

“Ok, I’ll try.”

 

…

 

**9pm January 18th**

 

Dinner with Harry had been amazing as usual. His stomach was full and he wanted to come home and just fall asleep. That’s what he planned to do until his Mother caught him halfway up the stairs.

 

“Lou! Can we talk sweets?” she calls from the living room. 

 

Louis sighs and makes his way back down the stairs to find her on the couch. She pats the seat beside her for Louis to sit. 

 

Talks like this with his Mother were never pleasant. The last chat they had was about Louis repeating year 13. That didn’t go well because it ended with him and his Mother in tears and his father on the phone yelling at him for being such a disappointment. Louis shudders at the memory and sits down cautiously.  _ What could she want?  _

 

“So, boo, how are you and Harry doing?” she asks playing with his hair. 

 

“We’re fine, Mum.” Louis says, honestly. Harry and him were truly alright. Louis hadn’t said a mean comment to him in over a week and Harry had been acting a lot less pretentious. It was great. It was like they were best mates again. Louis hoped to continue the friendship even after they “broke up”. Also, breaking up, wasn’t something Louis thought about until he was sat with his Mother. He may have made a mistake telling her because he knew that she would be devastated when their relationship would “end”. Louis was already thinking of ways to tell her: “We’re better off as friends”, “It wasn’t a good fit”, “He’s like a brother to me”. Each one of those would still not make the situation better. She LOVED them as a couple. She even started talking about marriage, which made Louis feel very awkward talking about considering they weren’t even a real couple. If they were a real couple, he wouldn’t have to worry about breaking the news to his Mum. But Louis still wouldn’t want to date Harry. The concert was a little bump in the road. He was confused. He didn’t really like him. Did he?

 

Louis is snapped out of his thoughts when his Mother speaks.

 

“Louis, honey, did you hear what I said?” she asked looking down at him.

 

Louis shakes his head. “Oh, sorry, what did you say?”

 

“I said that I know you’re not really dating Harry.” she states seriously.

 

Louis’ mouth opens in shock.  _ How could she-? What. The. Fuck.  _ Louis doesn’t know what to say. He guesses that Harry and him weren’t that great of actors after all. Louis just turns to his Mother with his mouth wide open trying to speak.

 

“Wh-”

 

“Louis, I’m not stupid.”

 

“I never thought you were,” Louis manages to get out. “Did Lottie tell you?” 

 

She chuckles, “No, Lottie didn’t tell me,” she takes a deep breath. “I’m your Mother, I know you, I can tell when you’re hiding something.”

 

Louis sighs and hugs his Mother. “I’m sorry for lying Mum,” he cuddles closer to her. “I knew that you wanted to see us in a relationship. I’m sorry that can’t happen for you.”

 

“Hey! Don’t rule that out just yet!” she giggles. Louis raises his head off of his Mothers shoulder and looks at her, confused.

 

“Louis, again, I know you very well, and although you aren’t in a relationship with Harry, I can genuinely tell that you have feelings for him.” she pets his hair some more.

 

Louis scoffs and sits up straight. “Uh, no I don’t! Why does everyone say that?” he asks.

 

“Because it’s true.” a voice from the staircase says.  _ Lottie.  _

 

She hops on to the couch on the other side of her Mother and leans in to her. 

 

“You are  _ madly  _ in love with Harry!” Lottie says dramatically, garnering a laugh from their Mum. 

 

Louis rolls his eyes. “No I’m not!” he exclaims, his voice high.

 

His Mum points to his face and laughs. “You blink fast when you lie!”

 

Lottie laughs with her. Louis’ cheeks turn red. 

 

“Mummy knows!” Jay tickles his stomach causing him to finally give up.

 

“Fine! I  _ might  _ have a small crush on Harry.” he leans back, closing his eyes.

 

Lottie and his Mother applaud him. “Fabulous! A happy ending! Brava” Lottie jokes.

 

Louis hits her over the head with a throw pillow. His Mother scolds him and grabs the pillow and jokingly hits him with it.

 

“So, how do you plan on wooing Styles for real?” Lottie asks.

 

To be honest, Louis had no clue. He had been pretty nice to Harry for weeks now. What else could he do? 

 

His Mother answered that question within seconds.

 

“Well, Louis, you should maybe start by doing something special for his birthday. His Mum will be missing it and we don’t want to see poor Harry celebrating alone.” Jay smiles.

 

“Birthday?” Louis was actually confused. He didn’t remember Harry’s birthday.  _ Oh wait. February 1st.  _ How could he have forgotten?  _ February 1st. Thursday. Election day. _

 

“Yeah! You should take him out for dinner, with friends.” his Mother suggested.

 

“Mum, Harry’s birthday is Election day.” Louis feels defeated covering his face with his hands.  _ He really forgot that Harry’s birthday was in two weeks.  _

 

“Oh, well, if you can’t do it on his real birthday, why not surprise him, a week earlier?” his Mother suggested, giddy with emotion.  _ Surprise him.  _

 

_ Wait. Idea! _

 

“You’re right Mum! Thanks for the help!” Louis says as he jumps off the couch and runs up the stairs to his bedroom leaving his Mother and sister confused in the living room.

 

…

 

_ Louis: LEIGH LEIGH LEIGH _

_ Leigh: LOUIS LOUIS LOUIS _

_ Leigh: hahah wat is it? _

_ Louis: ok we’re gonna have the campaign party !!! _

_ Leigh: YYAYAYAYAYY Harry said okay? _

_ Louis: no _

_ Leigh: :( then how are we having the party? _

_ Louis: so i have an idea _

_ Leigh: oooh an idea ;) _

_ Louis: harrys bday is on election day and i was thinking that we could throw him a surprise party/campaign party at his house next friday. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone  _

_ Leigh: aww thats soo cuteeeee _

_ Louis: :’’’) _

_ Leigh: so he’s fine with us using his house? _

_ Louis: i’m sure he wont mind. It is HIS party, afterall. _

_ Leigh: truu. _

_ Leigh: ill start texting people the info later this week and ill let them know not to tell harry _

 

…

 

**2pm January 22nd**

 

Running laps in freezing cold temperature meant nothing to Mr. Arbeebi. “Cold air is great for your skin.” he had said looking at the acne covered faces of his class. He also said that it was “great for your mental health”. Total bullshit. Harry’s mental health hadn’t improved within the last 15 minutes which means that Mr. Arbeebi had failed. P.E. wasn’t AWFUL. It was just hard and almost as grueling as football. They ran about 3 miles in total each 60 minute class. This is more than enough time to run 3 miles, but in the freezing cold, Harry would be lucky to finish one within the hour. The best part of P.E. was that he could hang out with his best friend and also get a good workout in. Zayn was already dying closely behind him. He stopped every 5 minutes to catch his breath. Harry did the same, but it was every 7 minutes. Yes, they were the worst players on the footie team. Another great thing about physical education was that while jogging, Harry got time to think without being distracted. His only distraction was Andrew Matthews behind.  _ No wonder why Louis always stared at him. He was fit!  _ Harry slows down his pace so that Zayn could catch up with him and Harry could watch Andrew overlap them for the second time. 

 

Andrew runs past them, a sweaty mess.  _ Ah, the bum.  _ Harry smiles. Zayn starts jogging slower beside him and wipes the nonexistent sweat off his forehead. 

 

“Matthews is on his what? 5th lap?” Zayn says breathless. Harry nods watching Andrew pass the starting point for the 5th time. 

 

He and Zayn decide that it’s time to give up and they start walking. Neither of them talk because if they do, they’d probably pass out. This gives Harry more time to think about his life. So, basically, Louis Tomlinson.

 

Louis had been odd lately. He was almost too nice. He gave Harry a hug every morning.  _ A hug?  _ That was not the Louis Tomlinson he knew. Louis only hugged people when he:

 

A). Was excited.

B). Was forced too.

C). Was carefully placing a sticky note that said “Slap my ass” on their backs. (Harry had to check his back to make sure).

 

Granted, Louis did hug Harry quite a lot when they were little, but they were kids. Children were usually over affectionate. 

 

Louis also randomly invited Harry to have dinner with him on Friday. It was a really odd exchange:

 

_ “This Friday, I’m taking you out to dinner.” Louis said when he entered the Styles home.  _

 

_ Harry was a bit taken back, flattered almost. “Really?” _

 

_ “Yes, Harold! Dinner. Friday.”  _

 

_ “Like a date?” Harry asked, hopeful. _

 

_ “Maybe.” Louis smiled. _

 

_ Maybe? MAYBE? _

 

_ “Wait what do you mean by, ‘Maybe’?” Harry had asked confused. _

 

_ “If you want it to be a date, it’ll be a date.” Louis stated. _

 

_ “Um… okay,” Harry was not following. “Why are you taking me out on a date?” _

 

_ Louis looked like he was trying VERY hard to hide his frustration. “Because, I want to, Styles.” he said through his teeth, harshly. _

 

Harry didn’t reply after that exchange. He just nodded and Louis helped him with Calc. Speaking of Calculus, Harry now has a B. Thanks to Louis. He was truly an amazing teacher. He could replace Mrs. Elkivich any day. He helped Harry get from a D to a B within 2 weeks. He really saved Harry’s ass. Honestly, grades didn’t matter much since everyone already applied to Uni, but Harry was never one who failed. He succeeded in everything that he did. Year 13 calculus was not one of those things. He applied to many universities, but he had his heart set on University of Manchester. He wanted to go there since he was 7, when Louis told him how great it was when he went on a school trip. Harry and Louis had a plan back then. The plan was that Louis would go to uni and stay for a year. He would get a job and get a lot of money, Harry would work too. Then, when Harry would graduate, he and Louis would both attend University of Manchester and share a flat nearby. That plan came crashing down when Louis left him when he was 13. This plan also couldn’t work out if they had remained friends because Louis had to repeat year 13. Harry didn’t know if Louis still even wanted to go to school in Manchester. Guess he still had a lot to learn about him. He wanted to learn more about him.  _ Fuck.  _

 

Zayn had noticed Harry’s Louis haze when he shoves him to get his attention.

 

“Mate are you okay?” Zayn asks, starting to jog again. Harry follows.

 

“Um, yeah, I’m fine, I guess.” Harry responded that made it seem that he was not fine at all. 

 

“What’re ya thinkin bout?” Zayn asks, concerned.

 

“Louis fucking Tomlinson.” Harry quickened his pace and Zayn does as well.

 

Zayn chuckles. “What about Louis  _ fucking  _ Tomlinson?” he pauses to take a breath. “Are you two alright?”

 

“Um…”  _ Should I tell him? Louis told me not to. Fuck it. I need someone to talk to. _

 

“Zayn, I needa tell you something.” Zayn slows down his jogging looks straight at Harry with a worried look.

 

“No, mate, it isn’t bad!” Harry giggles to lessen the tension. Zayn doesn’t giggle.

 

Harry sighs. “Alright, well, I’m not really dating Louis.”

 

“What!?” Zayn whips his head at him. “Explain!”

 

So, he does. Starting with Louis’ horrible encounter with Perrie to the Ed Sheeran concert. Zayn surprisingly understands. 

 

“So what’s making you upset?” Zayn asks.

 

“M’ not upset it’s just-” “Louis has been acting strange lately,” Harry looks up to the grey sky. “He’s been… nice.”

 

Zayn laughs. “Well isn’t that good?”  


“Yeah, but it’s kinda suspicious, I don’t know…”

“So you think he likes you for real, but you’re not sure?” Zayn asks practically reading Harry’s mind.

Harry nods. “I hope he likes me for real because I like him...for real.” Harry looks down at his feet. Zayn gives him a good squeeze and messes up his curls.

“Aww Harry!” Zayn pinches his cheeks.

Harry turns red. “Please, Zayn, I’m begging you. Don’t tell Liam about this until after the election. Louis will beat my ass if this gets out.” 

“I bet you’d like that though.” Zayn winks . 

Harry shoves him with a laugh.

…

**5pm January 26th**

Louis had insisted on driving Harry to their date because he was the one who asked him out in the first place. Louis drove the 2006 Toyota Sienna to  _ Womankind,  _ an Italian restaurant owned and run by women. Harry had always wanted to go to this place, but it was quite expensive. Harry realized it was a real date when Louis showed up to his door in his fanciest black jeans and a blue button up. He even wore a bowtie.  _ He looked adorable _ . When Harry commented on his attire, Louis had said, “Only the best for my fake boyfriend”. Harry’s heart exploded in 28 different ways. Harry wore his own black jeans and he wore a black blouse with a few buttons undone. Not too many. He had to stay classy. 

The restaurant wasn’t particularly  _ fancy.  _ It was quite casual, yet only the rich folk went there. Louis also asked him to bring more casual clothes and put them in the backseat saying that they would need them later. Harry didn’t know why he needed to bring extra clothes, but he just brought a loose fitting black t-shirt. It was a bit see through. He did that on purpose. He knew that Louis liked those kinds of shirts even though he claimed that they “belong in a gay strip club that no one would ever go to”. He also made sure that his jeans were extra tight. Everyone knew how much Louis appreciated a good arse!

Harry felt Louis’ eyes on his bum as he walked to the minivan.  _ Success.  _

They drive to  _ Womankind  _ joking about something Niall had done on his first date with Leigh-Anne (he spit water on her when she told a funny joke). Louis promised that there would be no spitting tonight. 

Louis had reserved a beautiful table by a waterfall in the back of the restaurant. It was dark and a bit chilly, but not as cold as it was outside. 

Louis ordered wine for the both of them. Harry was still underage.  _ One week to go!  _ Louis had managed to get the both of them a glass. Harry appreciates a glass of wine. It makes him feel older, more mature. Not like vodka. Vodka makes him feel like he’s an alcoholic. Just the taste makes him feel guilty for drinking it. It’s disgusting to him. It’s also really cheap so it’s easily accessible. Wine is not as easy accessible. That’s why he feels special drinking it. The thought of vodka reminds Harry of how much he hated parties.

After sixth form he did not plan on going to anymore parties. They’re fun until you’re drunk and sleeping with someone else's boyfriend. It’s not too pleasant when you’re drunk and naked trying to run away from a large man with a vodka bottle in his hand. Harry didn’t plan on attending anymore parties after this incident in year 12. Harry only went to Niall’s party last month because:

  1. Jay asked him to.
  2. Louis didn’t want him to go and Harry wanted to piss Louis off more than anything else.



That was the party where Harry had taken 12 shots of water while Louis was stumbling and almost passed out on the floor. 

Harry still felt guilty about that, but in his defense, Louis was a real dick that day.

Harry takes a sip of his white wine.  _ Aw luxury.  _ Harry thinks of what all his peers are doing. They were probably going to some insane party tonight. Not Harry. He was on a  _ date.  _ That was something that not many kids his age did lately. 

Louis orders himself lasagne and Harry orders risotto.

As they wait for their food, Harry decides that this would be a great opportunity to get to know more about Louis. He missed 5 years of his life. He wanted to know his life.

“You wanna know my life?” Louis asks after taking a sip of wine. “Like what kind of stuff?” 

“Well, let’s start with how you found out you were gay instead of bisexual.” Harry sits comfortably waiting for Louis to start. 

Louis clears his throat and takes another sip and begins. “It was year 11, I was dating Eleanor Calder, that bitch,” Louis rolls his eyes and Harry chuckles. “Anyways, while I was dating her, not to get TMI or anything, I never you know, was feeling  _ it.”  _ he makes it upward motion with his hands. Harry understood. Louis never got hard for girls. 

“So, I was like, ‘oh it’s because I don’t like El as a person’, when we broke up, I hooked up with a bunch of girls… or at least,  _ tried  _ to hook up.” he continues. Harry nods. “Sometimes, it was successful, but that was only ‘cause I was picturing David Beckham beneath me instead of them.” Louis laughs at his own story. “I realised that the only good screw I ever had was with a bloke,” “I met a guy when I visited the University of Manchester, Logan, he was my first boyfriend, he was 7 years older, he had a job at a bar, he went to school there. I was actually planning on going there, but ya know, I got held back,” Louis looks down. “I didn’t tell anyone about Logan because I knew they would judge me for the age difference and shit,” “When I didn’t get into uni, I went to visit him to break the news that he would have to wait one more year for me…” Harry knew where this was going. “And I saw him fucking a girl, even after we were dating for 9 bloody months!” “It was long distance, but I managed to stay abstinent!” “Why couldn’t he…?” Louis is looking down now. 

Harry truly feels bad for him. He didn’t know about any of this.  _ Obviously because I missed half a decade of his life.  _

Harry reaches out and caresses Louis’ cheek and tilts his chin up so they’re looking at each other. Harry had also gone through a breakup that involved cheating. He knew how it felt. 

“I’m sorry, Lou…” Harry sees that Louis had shed a tear. Harry gets up from his seat and gives Louis a warm hug. A genuine hug. He pulls back to wipe a stray tear from Louis’ red cheeks. Louis nods that he is okay and Harry returns to his seat just as the food arrives. 

They eat like they’ve been starving. Harry finished quite quickly, Louis seemed to be eating slowly on purpose. Almost like he was stalling. Louis finally finished and it was time for dessert. They ordered a slice of chocolate cake to share. As they wait for the dessert, Harry asks Louis a question that had been on his mind all week.

“Do you still want to go to Manchester University, after all that… happened?” Harry asks softly. 

“I got into MU a month ago, Harry,” Louis looks up after taking a sip of his almost empty wine glass. “I’ve always wanted to go there, I got early acceptance. I also applied for a scholarship that’s why I really want the politics credit, so I can be eligible for the scholarship,” Louis sighs. “Me Mum has 7 kids. I wanted this to be easy for her. I need to win the presidency so I can get my politics credit. I want to eventually get into Law school.” 

Harry’s jaw drops open. Louis already got in to Uni. No wonder why he wanted to win so badly. He’s trying to help his Mum out. 

“Louis... that’s amazing!” Harry smiles, proud of him. 

“Yeah, it will be, only if I win.” he finishes his wine in one swig.

…

Louis and Harry quickly change their clothes in the restroom of  _ Womankind  _ and are off to the car with their fancy clothes in hand. 

Louis was ecstatic. He couldn’t wait to surprise Harry. 

“So where are we going?” Harry asks as he hops into the passenger seat of Louis’ Mum’s minivan.

Louis pulls out the small black scarf from his coat pocket. Harry looks confused. 

“Face the window.” Louis instructs. Harry obliges and faces the car window. 

Louis places the scarf over his eyes and ties it in the back.

“Um...why are you blindfolding me?” Harry chuckles turning to face the front.

Louis waves his hand in front of his eyes to test if he could see. He didn’t react.  _ Yay. _

“It’s a surprise!” Louis smiles and starts the car.

Harry was totally gonna love him even more after this. Totally.

…

Louis pulls up to Harry’s house and steps out of the van first, so he could help Harry out from the other side.

“Where are we?” Harry asks giggling. 

Louis doesn’t respond. He grabs Harry by the hand and leads him to the door. Harry is very stiff and obviously scared.  _ Oh Harry is gonna love this! _

The door was unlocked and the house was silent. A light switch goes on. There are many people in the house. They all seem to have red solo cups in their hands already.

Louis counts backwards from 3 with his fingers. 3...2...1… Louis takes off Harry’s mask.

“Surprise!” Everyone shouts in unison. Louis looks to see Harry’s reaction. He isn’t smiling.  _ Why isn’t he smiling?  _

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Harry speaks. “Thanks guys!” he says with obvious fake excitement. Everyone is already scurrying off and music blasts through the house.

Louis turns to face Harry. He didn’t look too happy. Not one bit. 

“So... What d’ya think?” Louis points to a campaign poster of himself hanging in the living room, covering the Styles’ family portrait. “I thought it was a great idea to combine your birthday party and my campaign party!” Louis smiles widely. He expects a smile in return, but he doesn’t get that. He gets an almost angry look from Harry.

“Louis, I need to talk to you in private,” Harry starts up the stairs. “Now!”  _ Oh he’s mad.  _

Louis follows a stomping Harry up to his bedroom. Harry violently swings open the bedroom door to find a random couple that Louis didn’t know, making out on his bed.

They’re shocked when they see Harry and they quickly scurry off. Louis enters the room and slowly closes the door.

Harry starts pacing. More like stomping around his bedroom like a child.

“Are you an idiot!?” Harry shouts. Louis steps back. He’d never heard Harry shout like that.

“What do you mean?” Louis asks.

“Why on earth would you throw a party in my own fucking house without asking me?” he growls. 

Louis tries to speak but Harry cuts him off. “A campaign party? Really? In my house? My parents trusted me, that’s why I’m allowed to live here on my own!” Harry glares at him. “Are you  _ that _ selfish that you had to use me to get my house?”

“It was a surprise party for you!” Louis replies. 

“Oh really? A surprise party for me? Then why are there posters of  _ your  _ face all over  _ my  _ house?” Harry yells. Louis would ask him to be quiet, but he didn’t need to. No one would be able to hear them over the music. “You  _ know _ I hate parties so don’t use that ‘it was a party for you’ bullshit on me!”

Louis really didn’t remember Harry saying that he hated parties. He truly wanted to do something nice for him. It didn’t work out,  _ obviously.  _

“I was trying to do something nice for you!” Louis yells back angry.

“Oh! Thanks Louis! Thanks for letting strangers into my house! What a nice thing,” Harry exclaims sarcastically. “I knew I was right about you, Louis,” “You’re selfish and only care about yourself! Everything has to be about you, doesn’t it!?” Harry groans.

Louis doesn’t know what to say.

“Enjoy your party, Louis,” “Get drunk, go fuck a stranger in my guest room. I don’t care!” Harry throws his hands in the air. 

_ Fine. Maybe I will.  _

“Fuck you, Harry! I did this for you!” 

Harry laughs at that. “No Louis! You did this for yourself and you know it!” 

“I didn’t, Harry! God why are you so fucking difficult!?” Louis barks.

“I’m difficult? Is it that hard for you to understand that it’s not okay to throw a party in someone else's home?” “Or are you too stupid to get it?” Harry shouts. 

There’s silence after that. 

“You can go have fun now,” Harry says calmly. He probably got tired of screaming. Louis slowly nods and opens the bedroom door and leaves as quickly as possible. 

_ Fuck Harry Styles. _

…

**12am January 27th**

“And he yelled at me and called me selfish!” Louis yells over the noise. 

“Louis! I asked you if he was okay with us using his house!” Leigh-Anne exclaims looking worried.

“It was a surprise party! I couldn’t tell him!” Louis says angrily. “Whatever! Fuck him. I don’t even know why I liked him!”. He takes a long sip of his Grey Goose.

“Should we tell everyone to go home?” Leigh-Anne asks.

Louis shakes his head. “No, I uh- got permission to use his house.” Louis lies. He only wanted to keep the party going to punish Harry for being so ungrateful. He planned very hard for this party. 

He knew that Harry was probably trying to sleep, so Louis specifically asked that Stan play the music extra loud tonight. 

Louis was going to have fun tonight. First, that involved him getting extra pissed. Not blackout drunk, but drunk enough. He needed to get his mind off of Harry. 

Luckily, he finds a bloke in the crowd dancing on Luke. He’d never seen him before. If he wanted to get over Harry, this was the way to do it. He walks to Luke.

“Hey, Stan is looking for you, mate.” Louis lies as he gets to the boys dancing. Luke nods and lets the guy know that he’d be back. 

Louis smiles and takes Lukes spot and moves against the dude. “What’s your name?” Louis tilts his head back to him.

“Nate.” he replies with a deep voice. Louis likes Nate. 

Louis dances roughly against Nate. They’re both quite drunk.  _ Excellent.  _ Louis knows that they can’t stay longer because people would notice that Louis was dancing on another guy instead of his “boyfriend”.  _ Oh well. Everyone’s too drunk to notice. _

“What’s your name?” Nate whispers, lips touching Louis’ ear.

“Louis.”

Nate grinds into him. Louis can feel that Nate was hard. Louis was too.  _ Amazing.  _

“Well, Louis, you wanna go somewhere else?” he asks, kissing Louis’ neck.  _ Yes. _

“Please.” Louis whispers back.

Nate removes himself from Louis and grabs him by the wrist up the stairs to the guest room. He lets go to grab two already filled solo cups from the table by the staircase. Louis follows Nate as they ascend the steps. 

On the staircase, Louis sees a pair of green eyes glaring at him from the top.  _ Fucking Harry. _

As Louis passes him, Harry scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Typical.” he says under his breath. Louis chooses to ignore it. He has a hot guy leading him to the guest room where he would be getting an  _ extraordinary  _ blowie in a few minutes.

Nate kicks open the door to the dark room. Louis follows and shuts the door.  _ This is hot.  _ He feels Nate’s hands on him.  _ Yes. _

Nate starts biting at his neck. There would be marks tomorrow for sure. Louis moans as Nate eats his neck. Nate was much larger than Louis. Larger than Harry. He had muscles and tan skin. He wore a VERY tight shirt and the outline of his abs were very prominent. 

Louis whimpers when Nate pulls away. 

Nate hands him one of the cups. “Drink up.” he says seductively. 

Louis gulps that drink down so fast that he almost chokes on it. He drops the cup on the floor and begins to attack Nate with his mouth. He bites at Nate’s lips and he moves fast. Nate grabs him and pushes him against the bed. His eyes adjusted to the light so he could see Nate’s face. He had a sharp jawline. Louis had a thing for jawlines.

Nate grinds on him with his clothes on. Louis is really enjoying this. 

Until he isn’t.

Louis’ eyes start going dark. It’s like the room was losing its light. Louis is starting to feel dizzy. He also feels Nate pulling his jeans down.  _ Wait. Oh no. _

Louis tries to get up. He needs water. Nate pushes him back down aggressively. “Stay!” he demands. 

Louis’ jeans are off now. Nate forcefully pulls off his shirt. Louis can’t move. He wants to, but he physically can’t. It’s like his mind and body aren’t one. He didn’t feel comfortable anymore. He didn’t want this. He wanted to go. 

“Stop!” Louis grabs onto Nate’s shoulders. Louis still can’t see. His head was hurting. Nate removes Louis’ hands and pins them to the bed.  _ This is not happening. This isn’t happening.  _

Nate flips Louis onto his stomach. Louis is scared now. Truly scared. What did he get himself in to? 

He needs help. 

Nate pulls his own pants down. Louis tries to move frantically away from him. He can’t. Because he can’t fucking move. Tears are streaming down Louis’ face.  _ What’s about to happen?  _

“Help!” Louis manages to scream into the bed where his face was pressed down. 

Nate grabs his jaw. “Yell again and you won’t be able to speak again!” he growls and pushes his face down.

Louis knows he’s about to blackout. He cries into the sheets. Louis cries louder when he feels his briefs coming down. 

“Stop!” he yells, still unable to move. “Stop!”

Louis is sobbing now. He needs help. What was in that drink?

  
“Help!” he whimpers softly, unable to yell any louder.

The door bursts open. The lights turn on.

“Get the fuck off him!” Louis hears. He’s still crying with his face down. He feels the weight of Nate off of him. He still can’t move. He can’t lift his head.

He hears yelling, but it’s muffled he can’t hear.

He can’t speak, he just cries. The tears roll down onto his neck and chest. He can’t stop. He hears a crash and the room shakes. 

“Louis! Louis!” someone's hands are on him. He screams. 

“Louis! It’s me!” is all Louis hears until he can’t hear anymore.

…

**3am January 27th**

Louis’ eyes open. Harry is above him. 

“Louis!” Harry exclaims and squeezes him close to his chest.

Louis can’t help himself. He cries into Harry’s chest.

“Louis, it’s okay. You’re okay.” Harry sniffles and holds Louis tighter. Louis just sobs. 

Harry had saved him from what seemed to be the scariest moment of his life. He couldn’t see nor move. It was terrifying.  _ It’s over.  _ He wanted nothing more to stay in Harry’s arms. 

…

**12pm January 27th**

Harry had made Louis through up whatever he had in his stomach. Louis had been roofied. He always heard about stuff like this, but he never thought it would happen to him. He was still a bit shaken up. 

Harry said that he called the police on Nate and that they were searching for him. Louis told Harry that Luke apparently knew him, so he asked Luke for more information about the guy. 

“Thank you, Harry.” Louis said sipping his tea.

“You’re welcome, Louis. I’m glad I got there before it got any worse.”

Louis couldn’t even imagine what would’ve happened if Harry didn’t show up. He shakes the thought from his head. 

“Hey, Louis. I just wanted to let you know that I think we need to spend a little time apart for a while. I need to think a bit.” Harry says lowering his cup.

Louis nods. He understands why Harry needs to be alone. Louis upset him yesterday and the incident with Nate didn’t make anything better.

“If you need anything, just call me.” Harry says as he takes their empty cups to the sink. 

Louis nods again, not saying anything. 

“I’m pretty sure you don’t need me anymore for the election. I’m pretty confident that you already won. But if you do need me, you know what to do.” 

He leads Louis to the door. Louis notices that his campaign posters were off the wall and Harry had rolled them and tied them with a rubber band. He hands them to Louis. 

“Um...see you...whenever…” Louis says as he exits the house.

“Yeah.” Harry nods. He waves and shuts the door. Louis walks to his house with his head down. He doesn’t acknowledge anyone in his home when he enters. He runs straight to his room to cry some more.  _ What have I done?  _

…

Harry Styles saved his life.  _ Harry Styles saved my life.  _

No, he couldn’t stay away from him. No, he  _ wouldn’t stay away from him.  _

Louis loves Harry. So much. He can never lose him. Harry may want to take a break from each other, but Louis didn’t. 

That’s why he was banging on Harry’s door at 11pm, hoping he’d answer.

“Louis?” Harry asks as he opened the door. “Are you alright?”

Louis shakes his head. He grabs Harry and pulls him close. “Please don’t leave!” Louis cries.

“What? Louis, I’m not leaving.” 

“I don’t want to be away from you. Please. Let me apologise!” he pleads.

Harry lets Louis into his home. Louis looks up at him. He pulls him closer so they could kiss. It was a soft, meaningful one. It was beautiful. 

“Harry... I love you. Not because you saved me or took care of me. I love you because I’ve always loved you!” he exclaims. “I just didn’t realise it until now.” Louis says softly. 

“Louis...I love you too.” is all Harry says. He rubs the back of Louis’ neck. They hold each other close and they stay together for the rest of the night. 

…

**12pm January 30th**

Harry loves Louis. Louis loves Harry. They were alright.

The days after Friday were a lot better than Louis thought. He no longer had to worry about Nate because he was in custody for possession of narcotics. He also had been accused of sexual assault from 5 other people. He’d be going away for a while. Louis felt safe.

He was happy again. He and Harry were like they used to be. They still continued to “fake date” at school just to make sure that he had support from GSA. Louis was pretty sure that he had already secured the vote, but he wanted to keep Harry around for a bit longer. 

Louis realised how much he needed Harry in his life after their date at the italian restaurant. He still needed to learn more about Harry. He wasn’t ready to let him go just yet.

“Mate, can I talk to you?” Niall asks him from across the table. Louis nods and they both get up.

They walk through the empty hallway in silence.

“How ya feeling?” Niall asks, concerned.

“I’m fine Neil!” Louis laughs. He truly was fine. 

“Good. Good.” Niall sighs. “Big day comin up. Eh?” Niall nudges him.

“Yep! Thursday.” Louis looks down. He is NOT nervous.

“If you and Leigh don’t win, I’m dropping out!” Niall jokes. Louis laughs. “Louis, what happens to Harry after the elections over?” Niall looks down at their feet.

Louis hesitates. 

“Well… we were supposed to ‘break up’, but I- don’t want to? I don’t know.” 

“Louis, it’s confirmed that you like him now, right?” Niall smiles.

Louis nods, blushing.

“So… when are you gonna ask to be his booyyyfriendd?” Niall teases.

Louis shoves him and laughs.  _ Wait. When will I?  _

“I think you should do it tomorrow. So then he knows that after the election, he’s still all yours.” Niall suggests.

_ That is a good idea. _

“Maybe,” Louis shrugs. He laughs. “When are you gonna ask Leigh-Anne to be your girrllllfrienddd?” Louis mimics Niall.

“Oi that’s none’ya business!” the both erupt in laughter. 

“Just saying… it’s now or never!”

…

**5pm January 31st**

It’s now or never. 

Louis is driving to Harry’s house after his trip to the store. He bought Harry’s birthday gift and it was in the trunk of the minivan. Louis would be giving it to Harry after the election tomorrow. Today was the day that Louis would ask Harry to be his boyfriend. He had planned exactly what he was going to say.  _ “Harry, please date me for real!”.  _ A TRUE romantic, Louis was. He was going to get flowers but he thought against it because he didn’t want to be  _ too  _ dramatic. 

5 minutes away.

Louis takes a deep breath. He was sure that Harry would say yes considering that they told each other that they loved each other only a few days ago.

Louis takes a deep breath and pulls into their neighborhood. 

_ This is gonna be so great. Harry and I will be to- WHAT THE FUCK? _

There was a car in Harry’s driveway. A beat up Honda Civic.  _ Whose car is that?  _ His question was answered.

A smiling Nick Grimshaw exits Harry’s house and gets into the car.

Louis clenches his fists. He pulls into his own driveway and watches as Nick’s old car drives out of the roundabout. Louis is furious. He was ready to ask Harry to be in his life for a long ass time and he’s still sleeping with people.  _ Ugh!!! _

Louis slams the van door shut and marched to Harry’s front door. He doesn’t cry. He is not going to cry again. He doesn’t even knock. The door is unlocked so he walks in himself. He stomps to the kitchen to find Harry on his phone.

“You man-whore!” Louis shouts.

Harry looks confused.

“Oh you know what you did!” Louis inches closer to him.

“I don’t.” Harry puts his phone down and stands up.

“Oh did I not just see Nick fucking Grimshaw just pull out ya driveway? Huh?” he raises his voice.

“Lou…”

“Don’t ‘Lou’ me!” Louis turns away from him. “I really thought you loved me!”

“I do, Louis! Let me explain!” Harry pleads.

“No. You’re nothing but sex addicted twat!” Louis shouts. He didn’t mean to sound that harsh but he did. He doesn’t regret it.

Harry scoffs. “You know what Louis?” “I am done trying to prove myself to you!” “You think of me as some male slut!” 

“It’s true! You just shagged your ex! How low are your standards?” 

“I didn’t have sex with him! Why don’t you trust me!?” Harry shouts like he did the night of the party. 

Louis doesn’t answer his question. “Why couldn’t you fucking wait until Friday to have sex?” Louis looks up at him. “It was only two more days and you would’ve been rid of me!”

“Louis! I don’t want to get rid of you!”

“Then why did you have sex with him?”

“I didn’t!” Harry bangs his fist on the table. He looks furious.

“Why else would he be here then?” “Tell me!”

Harry grabs an envelope from his pocket and shoves it in Louis’ face.

“He was giving me a loan!” Harry exclaims showing Louis a check for 3000 pounds. “You always think you’re right, Louis! Why is it so hard for you to understand that you could possibly be wrong?”

Louis looks at the check. “Why do you need a loan?” Louis asks a bit calmer now.

“My stepdad is in a hospital in Uganda. He got sick and I don’t wanna tell my Mum so I’m paying for his bills myself!” Harry pockets the envelope. “I couldn’t take out a loan from the bank because my Mum knows my transaction history.”

_ Oh.  _ It made sense. Nick was loaded. 

“Harry… I’m so- “

“No Louis! Fuck you! Fuck you for calling me a fucking man-whore! Fuck you for not trusting me!” “I was tired of people thinking I’m this sex addict. I thought you weren’t like everyone else. But you are.” Harry laughs. 

_ Why is he laughing? _

“I should’ve known. You really will never change. You’re the same dick that left me 5 years ago. I’m sorry that I wasted your time.”

“Harry-”

“Have fun as president, Louis. Yes, I’ll be happy fucking randos from Friday on.” “Thanks for a great 2 months!”.

“Harry I’m trying to say that I’m so-”

“You can go now.” Harry says.

“Listen-”

“Go!” Harry shouts angrily. Louis nods and exits the house and slams the door.

Louis enters his house and goes to his bedroom. He feels a cold breeze enter his room. He shivers.  _ The window.  _

He walks over to shut it, but he notices that Harry’s window is also open. Harry enters his own bedroom. He flops onto the bed. Louis watches him.  _ He’s crying.  _

He calls out his window. 

“Harry! Please talk to me! I’m sorry!”

Harry looks up and wipes his tears. He walks to the window.  _ Wait he’s grabbing something. Oh. He’s about to throw something.  _ Louis ducks when the object flies through the window on the floor. Louis looks up to see that Harry slammed his window shut and the blinds drawn. 

He turns around to see what Harry threw.  _ Larry.  _ He threw Larry the bear. Louis sighs and picks up the rainbow bear. He places it on the bean bag in the corner of his chair.

He feels like shit. 

…

**1pm February 1st. ELECTION DAY.**

The auditorium was filled with every student at St. Anne. The candidates sat in the front row of the middle section, facing the stage. Mr. Jones had informed them, whoever wins must shake all the hands in the front row, including the candidate who lost, and walk up the stage to deliver their first speech as President of the student body. The front row included, the candidates, all representative from each grade level, Mr. Jones, assistant headmaster, Ms. Blaine, close friends of the candidates and a few other  _ important  _ people the Louis didn’t know the names of. Leigh-Anne sat on the far right of the row. Leigh-Anne sat to his left and the other seat next to him was empty. It was originally for Harry, but Louis doubted that he would even show up. 

“And then, he threw a stuffed bear at me through the window! So immature!” Louis exclaims to Leigh-Anne as Andrew gives the opening speech on the stage. “He basically kicked me out of his house! What a fucking twat!” he growls adjusting his lilac tie that matched Leigh-Anne’s dress.

“Well, I’m sorry things didn’t work out, Lou.” she pats his back looking a bit sad for him. 

“I really do hope that Robin is alright, though.” Louis sighs. He may ask his Mother for some money to send to Harry’s step father to help with his recovery. He didn’t know how bad Robins condition was. No one knew. Not even Harry’s mother knew. 

Leigh-Anne nods sympathetically. 

“Harry is such a dick! He really couldn’t forgive me for one mistake, like seriously he’s such a stuck up little-”

Someone behind Louis clears their throat. He knows exactly who it is. Louis slowly turns from Leigh-Anne to face the rude interrupter. 

_ Harry. _

“I promised that I would stay until February 1st. I never break my promises.” Harry says and sits in the open seat next to Louis.

“Thanks for coming.” Louis says lowly.  _ Should I say “Happy Birthday”? _

“Happy Birthday, Harry!” Leigh-Anne reaches over to squeeze Harry’s arm. Harry smiles.

“Thanks, Leigh. I hope all goes well today.”

Leigh-Anne giggles, crossing her fingers. “Fingers crossed!”

Harry was acting surprisingly normal considering that he was screaming at the top of his lungs a day ago.

Louis sits back and doesn’t talk for the rest of Andrew’s speech.

…

Listening to Mr. Jones talk usually wouldn’t make Harry want to rip out his hair and roll on the floor whilst screaming. The longer Mr. Jones dragged on his speech, the longer Harry would have to sit next to Louis, who, in his opinion, looked  _ hotter than shirtless Ryan Gosling in The Notebook.  _ Louis’ black suit was bit too tight, but Harry thought it was just right. 

_ Stop looking. _

Harry really felt the urge to stroke Louis’  _ little tummy _ through his dress shirt, but decided against it because he was still angry with him.

This was the third time that Louis accused Harry of sleeping with a guy while they were fake dating. THIRD!

Calling Harry a man-whore was a little out of line and it sounded stupid. If Louis  _ really  _ wanted to make Harry snap, he should’ve called him “Casanova”. 

Harry  _ did  _ snap though. He was already stressed about how he planned to pay Nick back and Louis decided to walk him and accuse him of something he never planned to do ever again. 

Harry did not like Louis at this particular moment, no matter how attractive he looked, he couldn’t change his mind about him today. After today, he wouldn’t have to see Louis as much. He may have to sit near him during lunch because Liam and Zayn decided to permanently sit with the other footie players. Other than that, they wouldn’t have to speak. Maybe a small conversation about the weather while they were getting the mail, but that probably would not happen too often. 

Although Louis pissed Harry off in ways he couldn’t describe, that didn’t stop him from voting for him for President. It also didn’t stop him from telling the people in line to vote for his “boyfriend”. Harry knew in his heart that Louis needed to win this. All his plans would go to shit if this election doesn’t end in his favor. Harry was genuinely afraid for him. He wouldn’t be able to see the look on Louis’ face if he lost. 

Mr. Jones clears his throat.  _ It’s time.  _ Harry sees Louis nervously shift in his seat. He doesn’t even realise he’s doing it when he gives Louis’ hand a supportive squeeze on the arm rest. He quickly lets go when he sees Louis’ confused face. 

“We will first announce your second semester vice president!” Mr. Jones says through the microphone. He rips open the small envelope and opens it like it was the Emmy’s. 

_ Please be Leigh-Anne, please be Leigh-Anne, please be Leigh-Anne. _

“And your vice president is…” Mr. Jones takes an annoyingly long dramatic pause. “Leigh-Anne Pinnock!”

_ Yes.  _

Leigh-Anne jumps out of her seat as the crowd cheers and chants her name. She pulls Louis into a forceful hug and gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. She turns to Harry to do the same thing. She giggles and runs through the rest of the row, quickly shaking everyone's hand and walks up the stairs to the stage, careful not to trip on her 7 inch heels. She shakes Mr. Jones hand and sits on a folding chair on the stage next to Jesy Nelson. She smiles and gives Louis a thumbs up as the audience applause finally dies down. 

The vice president was not required to give a speech, so Harry knows that this assembly was about to end (after the President is announced). 

“Before I announce the future President of St. Anne, I would like to say a few words about this role,” Mr. Jones starts.  _ Get on with it.  _ He talks about leadership, trust, responsibility. Harry can’t pay attention because he’s looking that the nervous boy next to him, his leg shaking. 

Harry rests a hand on Louis’ knee to steady him. Louis gives him an appreciative smile and takes a deep breath.

“Your President for second semester is…” another extremely dramatic, long pause.

“Louis Tomlinson!”

Louis shoots from his seat and throws his hands in the air, Harry’s hand falls to his side. Harry stands up as well as the whole auditorium. He waits for Louis to turn and embrace him, but he doesn’t. Louis shakes everyone's hand makes his way up to the stage to the podium. Before he speaks, he quickly gives Leigh-Anne and Jesy a group hug and jogs back to the mic. 

“Um, I, uh, don’t have much to say except, thank you so much for electing me, you will not be disappointed.” Louis pants into the mic. “, but yeah, um follow me on Instagram. My @ is louist91,” he gets a disapproving look from Mr. Jones signaling that he should wrap it up. “Um, oh-yeah, Nick Grimshaw,” Louis points to Nick in the front row. “Thanks for trying! Better luck in Uni, ha!” Louis says with a breathy laugh. “Oh! Party at my house tomorrow night! I’ll post the details on my Instagram, @louist91, I repeat louist91!” Mr. Jones rolls his eyes and grabs the mic to dismiss everyone to go back to their classes. Half the auditorium leaves while the other half runs to congratulate Louis on his win. Harry decides to leave. Louis won. He wasn’t needed anymore. 

…

**4pm February 1st**

Harry comes home to see a messily wrapped box at his door.  It was wrapped in Christmas paper. Harry laughs to himself and lifts the heavy box into his house. He places it on the kitchen table, removing the plate of half-eaten birthday pancakes he made for himself for breakfast. 

He carefully unwraps the large box until he realises what it was. A record player.  _ A fucking record player.  _ Harry had multiple vinyls that he only kept for display. He hung the album artwork but kept the records carefully wrapped and put in boxes in his closet. He had been wanting a record player for years to put his vinyls to use. There was no card with the gift nor a note. It was just wrapped on his doorstep. 

Harry does find a small envelope taped to the box. He opens it, but there isn’t a note. There were 4,  £50 notes. _ 200 pounds? _ It took Harry awhile, but he finally remembered. Louis had promised to give him 200 pounds for fake dating him.  _ Louis got him a record player.  _ He should’ve known right away based on the messy wrapping, but it didn’t cross his mind. Harry was beyond grateful.  _ Should I just not say anything? Should I thank him?  _ Harry chooses the latter. 

…

**9pm February 2nd**

Jay and Dan did as they promised and let Louis have the house for the weekend while they and the girls went to visit Louis’ uncle in London. They had a celebratory dinner the previous night to congratulate Louis on winning the Presidency. 

When Louis had won, he’d felt like he was on top of the world. He wanted to strip on the stage and run around. He also wanted to run down to punch Nick Grimshaw in the face, but he decided that none of that would be a good idea. 

Louis, Leigh-Anne, and Jesy were bombarded at the end of the assembly with friends and randos who didn’t want to go back to class. The auditorium had echoed voices of “Congratulations” and “Go, Tommo, Go!” as they tried to make their way out. Mr. Jones tried shooing everyone away so the President and Vice President could attend their first required meeting with SGA. They were to have meetings everyday during 7th period. Louis was finally free from Mr. Cowell and his awful class. The best part was that he could have fun and get the credit he needed for Uni. 

The party was something that Louis came up with on the spot when he was giving his “speech”. It would be a great way to kick off the new semester and his first day as President. 

Louis had been taking shot after shot. He hadn’t been this drunk since the night when he and Harry had that drinking competition. The competition where Harry had been taking shots of water while Louis was almost blackout drunk. Harry did take care of them that night. Louis was thankful for that, no matter how mad he was at him.

Louis was currently in the corner with Andrew Matthews. Turns out, Andrew wasn’t as straight as he claimed.

They were dancing face to face, but they were close. Their thighs almost touching.

“Where’s your boyfriend?” Andrew asks in his ear. Louis stops dancing for a moment.  _ Oh.  _ He realised that Harry’s favour was over. It was February 2nd. He and Harry weren’t “dating” anymore. A wave of sadness crashed over Louis as he stood in front of Andrew.

“Louis?” Andrew asks, waking Louis from his haze. Louis shakes his head and lunges to kiss Andrews plump lips. He was determined to forget of Harry for real this time.

…

Harry contemplated whether to crash Louis’ party or not. Well, technically it wouldn’t be crashing because Louis had posted about it to his 4,000 Instagram followers. Harry puts on his typical black skinny jeans and a plain white t-shirt. He didn’t plan to stay long, he was only going to forgive Louis. He spent the whole day thinking about it. He was originally just going to thank him for the gift, but he felt guilty that Louis spent so much money on him and gave him 200 pounds for something he would’ve done for free. He decided to forgive him because he felt a bit guilty for kicking Louis out of his house even when he was trying to apologise. He himself wanted to apologise for doing that too. He also wanted to hug him and tell him that he loved him and that he was all he thought about for the passed 2 days.

He didn’t want to ruin their friendship after they only just started. Louis came back into his life for a reason. He couldn’t risk losing him a second time.

He runs out of his house without a coat and opens the door to Louis’ house. He looks through the mass of people to find those blue eyes. The eyes that Harry had been thinking about all day. 

He grabbed a handful of chips from a nearby table and stuffed him in his mouth as he talked. He found Leigh-Anne and Niall slow dances to a not-so-slow dance song.

“Hey guys!” Harry says cheerfully.

Leigh-Anne turns to him and smiles. “Harry! You came!” she embraced him.

“Yeah, congrats on your win! So proud of you.” he hugs her back. She thanks him and giggles.

“Sorry fer askin’ but whatcha doin ere? I thought you hated parties.” Niall takes a chip from Harry’s open hand and eats it, crunching loudly, causing Leigh-Anne to cringe.

“Oh! I’m looking for Louis to thank him for the birthday gift he got me!” Harry smiles thinking about the vintage style record player that he used all night. 

Niall nods. “Well he’s over there with An-” Leigh-Anne covers his mouth with his hand. 

“Actually, Harry, I’ll help you look.” Leigh-Anne says grabbing Harry’s hand.

Niall looks confused. “But he’s right over th-” Leigh-Anne stomps on his foot and he squeals. “Oi!” he exclaims hold his foot.

Leigh-Anne leads Harry to the kitchen which is almost empty. She looks around the room as if she were searching for Louis in a forest full of trees.

“Hmm... I guess he isn’t here!” she says throwing her hands in the air. The way she said it sounded weird.

“I guess we have to check the laundry room! Away from the living room, because, he’s  _ obviously  _ not there.” she gives a nervous and dry chuckle. They walk to the laundry room door.

Leigh-Anne quickly opens the door. “Oops! I guess Louis isn’t he- oh fuck!” She slams the door shut before Harry could see inside. 

“On second thought, we should go to the living room! I think he might be in there!” she grips his hand and starts to pull him, but he doesn’t budge. 

He puts his hand on the door handle. “Harry, I don’t think you should-”. 

Harry twists the knob. 

Leigh-Anne gives him a sympathetic look as he opens the laundry room door. She covers her face with her hands and looks down.

…

Louis was doing an excellent job of forgetting about Harry. He was doing so well that he was making out shirtless with Andrew Matthews! Who woulda thought?

Louis had suggested that they go to the laundry room to continue their fun so they could enjoy themselves in private.

They were both hammered. Louis was sat on top of the dryer and Andrew stood in front of him. Louis wrapped his legs around Andrews waist and deepened the kiss. They were interrupted when they heard the door slam, but they laughed it off and continued. 

_ Fuck, Harry. I don’t need him. He doesn’t need me. He can go back to fucking whoever he wanted. That’s what he’s good at. He can’t maintain a relationship. I want a relationship. Andrew could help me with that even though he’s younger.  _

Louis moans against Andrew’s open mouth. They are interrupted once again when the door swings open. 

The figure at the door gasps. 

_ Ah, shit! _

…

Harry stormed pass Leigh-Anne as he made his way back to the living room. He completely ignored Leigh-Anne’s calls for him. He pushes through the crowd, stepping on toes and spilling drinks. He didn’t care. He needed to leave. 

He reaches the fronts door and gets out, breathing heavily. The air was cold. He walked across the yard halfway, but stops when he hears a familiar voice.

“Harry! Wait.” a shirtless Louis jogs up to him. Harry rolls his eyes and continues towards his house. Louis grabs his shoulder to stop him. “Harry!”

“What the fuck do you want Louis?” Harry barks turning to face him. In all honesty, he doesn’t know why he’s angry. His job was done. Louis could fuck whoever he wanted and so could he.

“I just wanted to see if you were okay.” Louis keeps his hand resting on Harry’s shoulder. 

He looks at Louis’ hand confused and Louis immediately drops it. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?” Harry asks harshly.

Louis fidgets with hands. “Oh, I just thought, because you saw me and Andrew that-”

“Why wouldn’t I be okay with that? I don’t care! We aren’t  _ dating  _ anymore.” Harry huffs. 

“Oh I thought that you might’ve been...I don’t know-”

“Jealous? You thought I’d be jealous that you were making out with a guy two years younger than you? You think quite highly of yourself, Tomlinson.” he turns around, but Louis stops him again.

He doesn’t say anything. They stare at each other. 

Harry tries not to cry. He can see Louis’ eyes getting shinier. 

“Actually, Louis, I  _ was _ jealous!” Harry admits, not knowing why he did. 

Louis stands and looks up at him in shock. “Y-you were?” 

“You really can’t tell?”

Louis shrugs, confused.

Harry scoffs. “I like you, you idiot!” He rubs his temple. “I’ve liked you ever since I met you and you still can’t see it after all these years!” 

Louis freezes. He looks up to meet their eyes. He truly can’t get a word out.

“Whatever, Louis. I thought we could’ve had something after the election, but I guess not,” Harry turns his heel and walks to his own house. “Have a nice life, Mr. President.”

Harry leaves Louis standing there, half-naked in the cold with tears falling from his eyes. 

…

**9pm February 16th**

Louis had been president for two weeks now. He had just returned from dinner with SGA at  _ Womankind.  _ The restaurant he took Harry on their date. Naturally, Louis spent the whole night thinking of Harry. Harry saved Louis that night. He took care of him even when he was furious with him. He missed Harry.

It’s not like they hadn’t seen each other in the passed two weeks. In fact, they had to see each other everyday for lunch. They sat a fair distance from each other. They never talked. They hadn’t talked since Harry told Louis that he liked him. Louis had always thought that his crush was one sided. He would’ve never thought in a million years that Harry actually liked him back. No matter how many times his family and friends told him that Harry had the same feelings, he wouldn’t believe it until Harry said so. And he did. 

Louis felt like shit. He did everyday. He hadn’t been the best president so far. He left most of the hard work to Leigh-Anne who happily accepted. 

Louis groans as he undresses. He’s had a long week. He knew being president was hard, but he didn’t think it would be THIS hard. His back ached from sitting in the same position for so long. He needed to stretch. 

He stretches in his boxers and hears the satisfying crack from his lower back. He sighs as he looks out the window. Harry’s curtains are still drawn. Louis couldn’t even make out a silhouette. He wants to poke Harry’s window with a large stick to get his attention, but he knows that Harry would ignore it no matter how much it annoyed him. 

Louis had been really bored lately as well. Usually he would go to Harry’s house and they would eat whatever Harry made and they would either study Calculus or watch classic movies. 

Louis missed that a lot.

He tried to watch  _ Grease  _ on his own, but it wasn’t even half as enjoyable when Harry was there. 

Louis yawns. He really was tired if he was going to sleep at 9 on a Friday. There was a party at Stans that night. Louis wasn’t really up for a party. He just wanted to sleep. Louis turns off his lights and looks to the ceiling. He was still adjusting to sleeping alone. He had been sleeping over at Harry’s for so long that he forgot how to sleep on his.

_ “Try sleeping with a stuffed animal.”  _ Niall had suggested earlier that day. Louis deicded to try that out. 

He got up from his bed and picked up Larry the bear from his beanbag chair and walked back to his bed. 

He flopped back down and held Larry close to his chest as he closed his eyes. The bear smelled like Harry. Louis loved Harry’s smell. 

He squeeze Larry tighter until, he heard a  _ crunch.  _

Louis opens his eyes.  _ Stuffed animals don’t have bones, do they? _

Louis squeezes Larry again and hears the same crunch.  _ What the fuck? _

Louis sits up straight and turns on his bedside table lamp.

He squeezes Larry a third time and he hears it again. There was something inside the bear. Louis shakes it and doesn’t hear anything. He feels around Larry’s stomach that was covered in the small t-shirt. Nothing. 

Louis gets up from his bed and turns on his bedroom light. He carefully takes of Larry’s shirt and folds it neatly on the bed. He shuffles to his dresser and grabs a pair of safety scissors and makes his way back to the bed. He puts Larry face down against the sheets and opens up the scissors. He uses one of the blades to stab Larry in the back.

_ Sorry Larry. _

He drags the blade down all the way down the bears back until stuffing comes out.  _ Mum can sew him back up later.  _

Louis places the scissors down when he sees that the hole in the bears back was big enough for his hand to fit. Louis rips out the stuffing until he finds what he was looking for: Two pieces of folded paper. One blue, one green.

  
The memory hit Louis like a truck. Harry and Louis wrote letters to each other and stuffed them in the bear. The blue written by Harry for Louis and the green written by Louis for Harry. They were supposed to be heartfelt letters. Louis had no idea what he wrote for Harry. All he remembered was spending a week writing it, thinking of what to say. 

_ “Write how you really feel! Be honest.”  _ Louis had told Harry. 

_ “We can read each others letters when we’re both at University of Manchester!”  _ Harry had said those years ago.

Well, technically they weren’t in Uni yet, but Louis couldn’t wait. He grabbed the blue paper and unfolded it carefully, making sure not to rip it. 

Harry’s somehow perfect, 13 year old handwriting covered the paper. Louis took a deep breath and began to read.

_ Dear Louis, _

_ I don’t even know where to begin. I love you so much. You really changed my life. I’m happier with you. Always. I want you to know that I’d never leave you. I’ll never stop loving you even if you leave me. I hope you never leave. I can’t imagine how my life would be without you. You make me want to do everything I love. You make me want to be who I really am even if people make fun of me. You’ll never know how much you really mean to me. You make me strong.  _

_ Louis, you really are an amazing person no matter what anyone says. You care about everyone and everything. You can change my mood in an instant. I could be crying and you would instantly make me laugh. I love you a million times more for that. You make me feel safe. You feel like home. You’re my home, Louis. I can’t ever leave my home. Its where I belong. I belong to you. I’m missing half of me, when we’re apart. I want you to stay with me for the rest of my life. I want to go to Uni with you, I want to live with you, I may even want to marry you! It may sound crazy and clingy, but that’s what I think about. Marrying you. I want us to have a lot of kids and live in a big house with dogs, cats, birds, and even mice! I don’t care, as long as I’m with you, I’ll be fine. I’ve never met someone that I’d want to spend every second with. I’ll never get tired of you. _

_ You may not love me the same way as I love you, but I just wanted to know that you were the best thing to ever happen to me. I will continue to fight for you, even if we’re 80 years old. I’ll NEVER leave you. I promise. I need you with me. We need each other.  _

Louis’ eyes are blurry with tears. He can barely see. He looks at the bottom of the paper to find a tiny words written in green pen.

_ Now you know me, for your eyes only. Don’t let me go. _

Louis folds the paper back up and places it beside him. He brings his hands to his face and sobs.

He let Harry go. Harry left him. 

…

**2pm February 17th**

Harry open his mailbox to find only two letters, one in with no labels whatsoever and another larger envelope.

_ University of Manchester.  _

Harry shakes nervously and runs into his house, not bothering to shut the door. He places the other letter on the table and rips open the own from Manchester. He takes a deep breath and takes the letter out.

_ Dear Mr. Styles, _

_ I am delighted to inform you that the University of Manchester has admitted you to the class… _

Harry jumps up and down clutching the letter to his chest. He runs through his kitchen looking for the house phone to call his Mother.

The phone rings only twice until his Mum answers.

_ “Hello? Harry are you alright?”  _ her sweet voice asks through the phone.

“Mum! Mum! I got in! I got in to Manchester University!” he exclaims through the phone

_ “Harry! I’m so proud of you! I knew you could do it!”  _ she praises. Harry could hear her smile through the phone.

“I’m so happy, Mum!” he jumps around his kitchen like a maniac.

_ “Aw, that’s so great, love. Have you told Louis yet?”  _ she asked.  _ Oh yeah.  _ Harry had forgotten to tell her that he and Louis weren’t friends anymore, again. 

“I’ll uh, tell him, uh, later.” he lies. He decides that it would be a great time to end the conversation. “So, uh, Mum, I gotta go call some people, to uh, tell ‘em.”

_ “Okay, sweetie, I’ll call you tomorrow. Have a nice day!” _

They exchange goodbyes and “I love you”’s and he hangs up.

He makes his way back to the table where he left the other letter. He sits down and opens the small envelope. Inside there’s a folded green paper. Harry looks at it in confusion and remembers exactly what it was. 

He sighs and unfolds it.  _ Yep, that’s it.  _ The letter that Louis wrote to him when they had just become teenagers. They weren’t supposed to read them until they were in Uni, but  _ whatever.  _

_ Dear future Harry, _

_ My name is Louis Tomlinson, I am 14 years old, I play football, I like The Fray, and I am absolutely completely in love with Harry Styles.  _

Harry inhales sharply and continues reading. 

_ Let me explain: I think I might like boys. Actually, I do like boys. Specifically, you, Harry. This is my great big confession. I hope that by the time you’re reading this that I’ve come out as bisexual or maybe even gay. I’m not sure if I’m gay yet, but we’ll see, I guess. _

_ Ok, so, I started liking you recently. You came to my house and we played footie in my backyard. I fell and I hurt my wrist because I landed oddly. You ran to help me and hugged me as I was crying. That was nice of you. You kissed my wrist and rubbed it until it started feeling better. You made me laugh even though I had been crying for half an hour already! Then you started kissing my hand a lot and it tickled. The pain I felt was instantly gone. I thanked you and you said that you would always protect me. You told me that you never wanted to see me hurt again. I liked when you said that. I felt warm and I felt like you’d always be there for me. I know that wherever I go, you’ll be the one to save me. No one can ever make me feel this way. That’s why I like you. And, I like you a lot. I’m too scared to tell you. I’m just truly in love with you, Harry. I want you to know that I’ll always be by your side, no matter what. Please be with me forever. I don’t want to be without you, ever. You make this feel like home. _

_ Always in my heart, Harry. Yours sincerely, Louis.  _

Harry sniffles as his eyes start watering. He blinks back his tears and flips the paper over to see words written neatly in pen. It was written recently. 

_ Dear Harry, _

_ My name is Louis Tomlinson, I am 19 years old, I am class President, I like Ed Sheeran, and I am STILL absolutely completely in love with Harry Styles.  _

Harry wipes his eyes and continues reading. It’s song lyrics.  _ Far Away.  _

**_I've loved you all along_ **

**_And I miss you_ **

**_Been far away for far too long_ **

**_I keep dreaming you'll be with me_ **

**_And you'll never go_ **

**_Stop breathing if I don't see you anymore_ **

_ Always you, Harry.  _

_ Still, always in my heart, Harry Edward Styles. Yours sincerely, Louis Tomlinson.  _

Harry looks at the writing with blurry eyes. He doesn’t put the letter down. He just stares at it.  _ Louis Tomlinson is in love with me.  _ Harry doesn’t know what to do. He still stares at the letter as if it would help him in some way.

“Harry.” a voice comes from the kitchen doorway.  _ Louis.  _ Harry looks up at him with wet eyes. “I’m sorry, the door was open, I just thought-” Harry lunges towards him and envelopes him in a tight hug. Louis stands stiff for a bit and embraces him back. They stand there in the kitchen, the breeze from the front door sending chills down Harry’s body, but Louis made him feel warm.

“I’m sorry. So sorry for everything I did. I’m sorry for accusing you, I’m sorry for making fun of you, I’m sorry for not talking to you for 5 years, I’m sorry for just being a dick.” Louis exclaims squeezing him tighter. Harry nods behind his back. “I’m in love with you!” He holds him. “I love you…”

“Louis, I love you too, so much.” he breathes in. “I forgive you.”

Harry and Louis stay in their embrace. Inhaling each other. Holding each other tight.

“Thank you for not leaving me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Please tell me your honest opinion because I would love to continue writing fics in the future! I may write an epilogue for this one, but I'm not sure yet :/
> 
> Again, thank you,
> 
> Kelsey (onmyownjh on tumblr)


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